Beyond Zero
by Sir Cameron Dragic
Summary: Upon his death, Lelouch finds himself transformed into a Devil. With his new powers, he sets out to end the war between Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils so that the gentler world Nunally desires can become a reality. Along the way, he meets new and familiar faces and he will finally have his chance at love. Chapter 3 has been edited. Chapter 5 has now been edited.
1. Chapter 1

**For anyone who read my Sekirei stories, I'll let you know that this story's tone is a balance between the seriousness and lightheartedness of Chaning the Game and Survival of the Fittest. Obviously, this isn't related to Sekirei in any way, as it's not a Sekirie crossover. The Sekirei crossover that I've been working on will get started soon as well for anyone who is interested in it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this story! Highschool DxD and Code Geass really need more crossovers.**

* * *

Chapter 1

The history books will tell future generations that today was the day that Lelouch vi Britannia, the Demon Emperor, died at the hands of Zero, fulfilling the Zero Requiem.

Lelouch watched over his subjects one more time as his float carrying the prisoners passed them. They all looked upon him with contempt and disgust, but he didn't care. He wouldn't see them anymore after this. As he planned, the entire procession stopped as a masked figure stood alone in the road ahead.

It took the crowd a few moments to realize who exactly was standing in the road. But by the time Lelouch feigned surprise on his face, he could he people murmuring the name, "Zero."

Without warning, Zero dashed forward and Knightmares fired at an unusually limber Zero, but found it impossible to hit him in time. Jeremiah stood ready to defend Lelouch, but Suzaku quickly passed him and leaped onto the float. Suzaku deftly made his way past all of the hapless guards and drew his sword back.

Lelouch allowed himself to smile. For generations, people will debate about why exactly he was smiling. Only a select few knew the truth about the Zero Requiem.

Suzaku did not show the slightest sign of hesitation as he stabbed Lelouch. As he did, the emperor collapsed into him. Lelouch had to admit, it hurt more than he had expected it to. But then again, it was nothing compared to the pain of having to watch people he loved die at his own hands.

He whispered just loud enough so that Suzaku could hear him, "This is also a punishment for you. You will be the defender of justice and wear a mask forever. You will no longer be able to live as Suzaku Kururugi. You will sacrifice all of your own happiness for the world, eternally."

"I accept that Geass." Suzaku replied, holding back tears.

He pulled out his sword, allowing his best friend to take a few steps before he collapsed and slid down next to Nunally. The world cheered as Lelouch began to gasp out his last breaths with a small smile on his face. The Black Knights appeared out their hiding places, freeing the prisoners and overthrowing the reign of Lelouch vi Britannia. Nunally's face was streaked with tears as she wailed for the loss of her brother.

"Lelouch! I love you!" Nunally screamed at him.

Despite the chaos, Lelouch was at peace. He knew that because of him, the gentler world that Nunally desired could be made a reality. Now he was ready to pay for his actions in Hell. Knowing that he fulfilled his promise with Nunally would make it easier. He could almost see Euphie, Shirley, Rolo, and everyone else beckoning towards him. He was ready to join them.

"Yes…I destroy worlds…and create worlds…"

With one last gasp, Lelouch vi Britannia, the 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire, died.

* * *

Across the Underworld, a feeling of opportunity filled the air. The news that Lelouch vi Britannia was dead spread like wildfire. In his castle, Sirzechs Lucifer could only groan in annoyance as a messenger delivered the news.

"Now all of the clans looking to increase their status are going to go after him." He muttered.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Grayfia asked her husband. She knew that he would not stand for a free for all between the clans, it would most likely be seen as a weakness by the Angels and the Fallen Angels. Sirzechs had to maintain that the Underworld was as strong as ever to prevent an invasion.

Sirzechs sighed, his next move was probably going to anger a lot of clans, but it's not like they could argue with any of his decisions.

"Well, I do miss having a productive Asmodeus." He mused, "I should see if Lelouch could take Falbium's place."

He cracked his fingers.

"Very well then. Lelouch vi Britannia, prepare to be reborn."

* * *

Lelouch awoke with a start, his face covered in sweat. The last he remembered, he had successfully carried out the Zero Requiem, but then, how did he survive?

"That was all a dream?" He asked, feeling for a stab wound in his chest, but finding none.

"It felt so real though." He muttered as he checked his surroundings, realizing that he definitely wasn't in his home. He was sleeping in a room that was still regal, but not his palace. He could recognize his own room. For one, his walls were definitely not painted red.

"I assure you that it most definitely was not a dream." A crimson haired man walked in.

"Who are you? And where am I?"

"I am Sirzechs Lucifer, one of the Four Great Satans."

So that explained it. He had died and now he was facing his eternal punishment in Hell.

"So am I in Hell?"

"No, you are in the Underworld, the home of Devils." His response shocked Lelouch. So he was somehow alive, although he did feel different.

"Why am I here?"

"First, I have a bargain to make with you. Second," He began with a glint in his eye, "I need you to meet someone."

* * *

Lelouch found himself standing in front of a rather unimpressive castle. Considering that he was now a Duke, he expected better.

"How the mighty have fallen." He muttered as he entered Murmur castle. According to Sirzechs, the Murmur Clan died out during the Great War, but he felt that Lelouch could be used to restart it. First, he made a contract with him, not unlike the one that Lelouch had made with C.C. In exchange for certain requests, he would be rewarded by being reborn as a pure blood demon with all of the powers of the Murmur Clan, as he was now the patriarch of the clan.

He entered the Gothic castle and looked around. It was incredibly dusty, as no one had tended to it in ages. The walls and floors were all made of rock, with a large blue rug leading up the stairs. Purple curtains framed a fifty foot high window with a mosaic depicting the mark of the Murmur Clan. A large golden chandelier hung over the foyer and there was an impressive stone staircase leading to the second floor. He slowly climbed up the stairs and turned to the left, which held two doors, one of which led to the bathroom and the other one led to the master bedroom. He quickly glanced to the right, which only held one door.

He found the door slightly ajar and decided to investigate. He opened the door to find a large library filled with thousands of books. If he was going to have an unimpressive castle, at least it had a substantial library. Besides one of the rows of bookcases lay a small table with a chessboard. Upon further investigation, Lelouch discovered that there was only one set of chess pieces.

"These must be the evil pieces." He muttered as he began twirling the pieces between his fingers as plans already began to form in his head on how to use servants to win Rating Games. More importantly, he began to plan out the next move that would allow him to ascend the ranks of Devil society. He did have a distinct advantage currently.

Not only did he have the powers and abilities of a Super Devil, but his Geass remained. He still had not fulfilled his contract with C.C., so his Geass would remain until he did. He knew that would not be enough to become one of the Four Satans. He needed to get on top before he would have the right to lead an army large enough to defeat the Angels and the Fallen Angels.

After learning about the ongoing war between Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils, he made the choice to accept Sirzechs' offer so he could end the war. After all, Nunally would not be able to live in a peaceful as long as a war like this carried on.

But before he could even think about ending the war, he had to fulfill Sirzech's requests.

* * *

"Hello everyone, my name is Lelouch Murmur." The black haired student said, bowing as he did so. Rias Gremory stared intently at the new student as he introduced himself. Murmur was the name of an extinct Devil Clan, but there was no way that someone as frail as the boy standing in front of the class was a Devil. Meanwhile, Lelouch was just as interested in Rias. She seemed to be the only girl in the classroom who wasn't busy ogling him like his fan girls back at Ashford used to. Kuoh wasn't all that different from Ashford overall. He remembered that the two schools were actually rivals, but Ashford was usually considered a more prestigious school, as it was for Britannians while Kuoh welcomed any students it could get, Japanese or Britannian.

He was directed to the empty seat behind her and next to Akeno in the back corner. As he walked back to his seat, he stopped at Rias' desk, interested to find out who she was.

"Hello, I'm Lelouch." He introduced himself to her with an outstretched hand. As Rias shook it, she almost collapsed from the overwhelming power she suddenly felt radiating from him. There was no doubt that he was a Devil, and a very powerful one at that. There was something else coming from him, although she couldn't exactly pinpoint it.

The only person who she ever got a similar feeling from was Sirzechs, and he was already a Super Devil. She definitely needed to warn Issei to stay away from him. If Issei ever angered him, she had no doubt that Lelouch could annihilate him, Longinus Gear or not.

She tried her best not to show her thoughts to him, "Rias Gremory."

Lelouch's eyebrows raised in surprise. So this was Sirzech's younger sister. Well, they did both have the same crimson red hair. He took a quick look over her. She was definitely attractive, he couldn't deny that. Now he knew why Riser Phenex was so eager to marry her. Although he imagined that Phenex would be eager to marry just about anyone, considering that he was perverted enough to actually make his younger sister a part of his harem. The only time he met Phenex before he left the Underworld had left a bad taste in his mouth, especially as his younger sister made him think of Nunally. No doubt that the man would be one of the obstacles standing between him and a spot as one of the Four Satans.

He took his seat and introduced himself to the black haired girl sitting next to him. She was just as, if not more beautiful than even Rias Gremory.

"Lelouch Murmur."

"Akeno Himejima."

He realized that she was Rias's famous queen, the Priestess of Thunder. He knew about her reputation as a sadist and was surprised to see such a cheerful girl sitting next to him, although he knew that her cheerful persona was just a façade. As the teacher began lecturing, Lelouch suddenly realized why he ditched class so much. The classroom bored him.

As soon as class ended, Rias rushed to the Occult Research Club to call a meeting.

"What is it Buchou?" Issei asked as he entered the club room. He had rushed back as soon as Rias called for a meeting.

"There is a new Devil in Kuoh Academy." She announced.

Koneko nodded in the midst of eating a cake, "He seems powerful." She wasted no words, exactly summing up her feelings about him, although she did also notice that he was a much less perverted man than Issei.

Kiba nodded in agreement, "And he's already gained a large following of fan girls within a day." He shuddered a bit. It had already been agreed upon by numerous fan girls that the Two Great Men of Kuoh Academy as they were dubbed, were already in a relationship with each other. Those girls could make anything up as long as it satisfied their sick fantasies.

"Fan girls? He must really be the enemy of all men!" Issei exclaimed, imagining that Lelouch already had a harem.

"I won't let him get in the way of my harem!" He yelled.

Rias sighed at her pawn's perverted dreams.

"Ara ara, what should we do then, Buchou?" Akeno asked.

Rias' brow furrowed, "I don't know yet, but for now, we need to try and befriend him. If what I felt when I met him is any indication, we'll want him on our side."

"Don't worry Buchou, if he tries to hurt you, I'll stop him, even if it costs me my life." Issei said confidently.

Rias kept a serious face at that, even though she was touched that her cute servant was willing to lay down his life to protect her.

"Issei, I know that your Sacred Gear is powerful, but just his raw power alone might be able to beat you, not to mention I think that he may be wielding some sort of Sacred Gear himself. Please, don't get into any trouble with him."

* * *

Lelouch wandered the streets aimlessly, lost in his thoughts. Within a few weeks, he went from the being the Emperor of Britannia to a Devil. Although it wasn't that big of a change since he was already regarded as the Demon Emperor, even before he gained any supernatural powers. He wondered about what had happened to everyone from Ashford.

From the news, he had learned that Nunally had become the 100th Empress of the Holy Britannian Empire. He couldn't help but feel proud of her. Her actions were well received and promoting peace around the world. Also from that new feed, he learned that Milly had done well as a reporter, as she was the one reporting on Nunally and Ohgi's meeting. In addition, it seems that Knightmare Frames were outlawed and most of them were destroyed, much to the chagrin of Lloyd and Rakshata, who were currently fighting to reverse the ban, with little success.

He had also learned that Sirzechs had somehow managed to alter everyone's memory of his appearance, allowing Lelouch to keep his appearance without raising suspicion. It hurt him that Nunally would never recognize him again, but it was worth it if he could bring an end to the war raging on between Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels.

Before he knew what he was doing, he found himself standing in front of Ashford Academy. His legs had subconsciously brought him there, but he could go no further. He was afraid that if he went inside, he couldn't bear to come back out. There were too many memories. Milly, Rivalz, Nunally, Suzaku, Shirley, Eupie, they would all come back to haunt him. Euphie and Shirley especially. He desperately wanted to apologize to them.

"Why Lelouch?"

Those words had haunted him up to his death. It wasn't bad enough that he had killed his sister, but he had killed his one love. He could feel the tears coming. Ordinarily, he would not let his emotions show, but here, he could bear it no longer. His knees felt weak and he allowed himself to fall to the floor.

"I'm so sorry, Euphie." He choked out between sobs.

"I know." Lelouch could almost feel her ethereal touch. He kept his eyes closed, not daring to ruin the illusion his mind had created.

"Open your eyes." The voice commanded. Lelouch begrudgingly gave in and opened his eyes.

"Euphie!" The pink haired princess was standing in front of him in a white dress and had a halo above her head. Fitting, as she was the most innocent person Lelouch had known. All of the feelings he had kept locked away came flooding back to him. The dam had burst and he didn't know what he would do if she wasn't actually standing in front of him.

He reached out and gingerly felt her cheek, hoping that something would be there. Euphie gently placed her hands around his wrist, letting him know that she wasn't an illusion.

"But how?"

"I was reincarnated as an Angel after I died."

Lelouch's eyes widened. As much as he loved Euphie, he knew that it would be dangerous to be near an Angel.

"Aren't you going to kill me then?" Lelouch asked, "I am a Devil after all."

Euphemia frowned, "I could never do that, not to my brother."

Lelouch smiled, "Euphie, you really haven't lost your innocence, but you have to understand. A Devil and Angel cannot coexist, it's just not possible."

Lelouch pushed her away and began running. He wanted nothing more than to hug Euphie and tell her how much he missed her, but he knew that they were now too different for something like that. She was an Angel and he was a Devil. He knew that fate did have a punishment in mind for him. He would be able to meet the one person he ever loved, but now, she would be more unattainable than before. Worse than that, it was very likely that he would have to fight her.

He ran until his legs could not carry him anymore. He had never been one to pray to God, and the recent turn of events had made him furious. He knew that churches were dangerous to a Devil, but he didn't care right now. He was too angry to acknowledge the danger as he blew the doors of the church off of their hinges.

"What the fuck was that?" Raynare yelled as she heard a loud crash at the doors. Since she was the only one in the church at the time, as the others were busy with Freed's trap for Issei. She smiled a bit, the boy was so pathetic, not to mention he had one of the weakest Sacred Gears, he really wasn't worth the effort it took to kill him the first time.

Lelouch summoned a huge tornado, tossing pews around like sticks. Before he had returned to the human world, he had discovered that he had an affinity for magic. He had exceptional focus, which had allowed him to master various forms of magic within weeks. In addition, through extensive readings, he had learned how use the special ability of the Murmur Clan.

With his anger, he summoned a lightning strike that obliterated the cross at the end of the room. Wood splintered and as the cross exploded, splinters were flung around the room. Lelouch put up a wall of fire that obliterated any slivers of wood coming at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Raynare yelled as she saw Lelouch charge up another lighting strike. He turned to her with crazed eyes and for the first time in her life, Raynare was scared. His strength permeated the air and from across the room, she could feel immense power radiating from him. It was apparent from the moment she saw him that he was no ordinary Devil. Beyond that, she could tell that there was a powerful Sacred Gear nearby.

Before she had time to react, he unleashed a stream of lightning from his hands. She felt her heart beat unbelievably fast as electricity coursed through her system. She fell to her knees in pain as she felt her skin being slowly cooked by the heat of the lightning. By now, her heart was beating at a million miles per hour.

Suddenly, it stopped. Raynare thought she was dead for a second, but the fact that she was lying on the hard wood floor of the church signified that she was still alive. Her heart began to slow down, although it was still beating exceptionally fast.

"Why did you stop?" She gasped out.

"You know, I have a favorite saying. The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed." Lelouch said in a surprisingly calm voice.

"What does that mean?" Raynare snarled.

"That means that I'm prepared to die, but the question is, are you?" Lelouch raised his hand and smirked. He finally would get a chance to test out the power of the Murmur clan.

Raynare's eyes widened in horror as ghostly figures began rising out of the floor. Dozens of glowing figures, many of them with holes in their chests, began cornering the fallen angel. He had discovered that the Murmur clan was able to raise deceased spirits and that was the job they were summoned for the most.

Lelouch chuckled, "Looks like your hands are anything but clean." He observed. He had raised all of the spirits of Raynare's victims, and there were a lot more than he expected.

Raynare tried to back up, but found herself stuck against a wall as she was swarmed by vengeful spirits. Each time one of them touched her, a chill ran up her spine.

She covered her face with her arms and screamed, "Get away! Make it stop!"

Lelouch was impressed. His power seemed to be very effective against her. At heart, it seemed like the tough Raynare was actually a coward. Suddenly, she did something he never expected her to. She fought back. She began hurling spears of light wildly at the apparitions, making many of them disappear. Lelouch noted their weakness against light and decided to experiment more with this power. Before long, she had cleared the room of ghosts.

Lelouch sighed, he was actually pleasantly surprised that she found the courage to fight back. Maybe she would make a decent pawn. However, he felt like her spirit called for a rook. It surprised him that she actually had so much potential.

But before she could become his rook, he would have to reincarnate her. He pointed his right index finger at her chest and focused as much as he could, unleashing an outrageously powerful bolt of lightning at her.

Raynare didn't even see it coming when the bolt blew a hole through her chest. But she felt the intense pain that followed as blood sprayed out of her singed arteries. She collapsed to the floor on her back, trying to admire the painting that adorned the ceiling of the church.

She heard footsteps approaching her and soon found herself face to face with Lelouch. He knew the state she was in. She was down to her last breaths, much he had been a few weeks ago.

"I suppose since you are going to die now, I should introduce myself. I am Lelouch Murmur, formerly Lelouch vi Britannia."

Raynare's eyes widened in surprise. The one who had killed her was the Demon Emperor?

"I have to say, I was just going to leave your body here, but since you impressed me by fighting off those spirits, I'll give you the chance to be my servant." Lelouch said as he twirled a rook between his fingers. For some reason, his comment made Raynare's heart, or whatever was left of it, swell up in pride for impressing him.

"Please." She begged with her last breath. She couldn't bear to be alone, not now. She felt darkness overtake her vision and allowed herself to close her eyes.

Lelouch placed the rook on the part of the chest he had not burned through and created a magic circle.

"I command thee, Ryanare, on my name, Lelouch Murmur, become my servant and once more return thy soul to this land and become a Devil. Thou shall now live a new life with great joy as my rook!" As he finished the incantation, the circle began to glow brightly and the rook inserted itself into her chest.

* * *

Sun began to peek though the violet curtains that covered the ten foot panes of glass that made up the windows of the room Raynare was now lying in. The room itself was very bare with only a king sized bed with blue silk sheets, two small drawers next to the bed, and a table in the corner with a chessboard set up. The walls and floor were all made of stone, the gray starkly contrasting with the purple curtains and blue sheets.

Raynare awoke with a sweat covering her brow. Her head was pounding and she could not remember what had happened to her last night. She quickly took in her surroundings and realized that she was not in the church. She instead seemed to be in a castle, although she beyond that, she had no idea where she was. She tried to sit up but was forced back by excruciating pain, causing her to cry out a bit. As she did, she felt someone stirring next to her. She looked over and almost fell out of bed when she realized that she was sleeping next to the man who had killed her yesterday, Lelouch vi Britannia.

She held back a gasp as she realized that Lelouch was naked and still had an arm wrapped around her stomach, using her almost like a pillow. Her naked stomach. It suddenly registered that she was naked as well. She was now much more uncomfortable as he unconsciously pulled her tighter to him, allowing her to feel his now erect member on her leg.

"Did we have sex or something?" She whispered. Not that she would complain. Now that she got a chance to observe his sleeping face up close, she realized that he was ridiculously handsome, although she could not forget the look he had on his face when he turned to her for the first time. It had filled her body with dread and just thinking about it made her shiver.

But still, when he was asleep, he looked far more peaceful, although he face still held traces of worry. He probably had a lot on his mind. She made a move to take his arm off of her, but found her arm held in an iron grip almost immediately as Lelouch opened his eyes and glared at her. He looked at her face for a moment before it registered that she was his servant.

"I'm sorry." He said sheepishly and he released his grip.

Raynare was definitely freaked out at how quickly he had changed emotions. She suddenly realized how Issei felt when she transformed from Yuuma.

But first, she wanted answers, "Do you want to explain what happened last night?"

Lelouch had an annoyed look on his face, "Isn't it obvious? You're my servant now. You should remember that from last night. You looked so proud when I said that I was impressed enough to make you my servant. You know, you really should be proud. You were worth a rook. I only expected you to be a pawn or two but your potential exceeded my expectations."

Ryanare had to blush a little at his compliment, "Thank you, but I want to know why we're both naked."

Lelouch sat up and rubbed the back of his head, "Well you see, in order to heal you, I had to transfer some of my power over to you. The most effective way to do that is to embrace you in the nude, so that's what I did."

"Oh." Raynare said, slightly disappointed that they didn't have sex, although she was glad that she didn't lose her virginity and forgot all about it.

The disappointment in her voice was immediately evident to Lelouch, who smirked internally. She was disappointed that he had only embraced her. Honestly, she was no better than one of his fan girls. Speaking of fan girls, he suddenly realized that he would be late for school soon.

"Well, I'm going to school. I bought you a uniform." He pulled two uniforms out of a drawer and handed one to her.

"What for?"

"Isn't it obvious? You're coming to school with me."

* * *

**I'm going to warn everyone right now. I'm pretty sure that Lelouch will be paired up with either Akeno or Euphemia, so if you are against incest, I'm telling you ahead of time that there will likely be some later on. For those of you who have come from my recommendation in Survival of the Fittest, I'm going to be focusing on this story more for a while because it's just been easier for me to write this story lately. I'm going to go back and finish Survival of the Fittest, but this is my number one project right now. **

**I do have a question for big Highschool DxD fans. What Sacred Gear do you think you actually fit Lelouch? I'm only going off of what I know from the anime, so if anyone knows a good Sacred Gear, please help! ****Please leave any suggestions you can, be it a review or a PM. I would really appreciate any feedback!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. It really means a lot to me to see so many responses. Thank you so much to CrazySasori, who has helped me out a lot with his information. Also, thank you to Random Anon, whoever you are. Your review made an excellent point about taking a long route to go a short distance. That will influence where this story goes. **

**Since people are suggesting it, I might go with a harem pairing, but there will still be one main romance that is more important than the others. Also, this chapter contains my first lemon scene, so please don't flame me if it isn't good. Besides, the point of the entire scene isn't really about sex anyways. I was actually attempting to make what Lelouch tells Issei a whole scene, but I don't know if I could have pulled it off without it seeming kind of random. If you guys want, I could include that scene, although I'm sure you guys don't want to read this story for smut.**

* * *

Chapter 2

Raynare watched Lelouch intently as he got dressed. He didn't look very athletic and was a little skinny, but there was no hiding the fact that he was radiating power. She thought about what he had said to her the night before. It had meant a lot to her that he was impressed by her. She didn't know exactly why his words meant so much to her.

Sure he was handsome, but she had killed plenty of handsome men without hesitation or regrets before. Was it because he wanted her when no one else did? Normally, when she revealed her true form, men were scared of her, but Lelouch was impressed by her.

"Seriously Raynare, I think you should get dressed soon." Lelouch ordered.

"Yes my king." Raynare was shocked at the words that had come out of her mouth. He was her king, but normally, she would never address someone that way.

"Is something wrong?" Lelouch asked the Raynare, who had a shocked look on her face.

"Oh, it's nothing." Raynare blushed a little. It felt nice to have someone be concerned about her. She snuck another look at his face. It definitely didn't hurt that he was gorgeous.

* * *

"Hello, my name is Yuuma Amano." The black haired girl smiled and bowed in front of the class before being directed to the seat right in front of Akeno and diagonal to a sleeping Lelouch.

Instantly Rias was on high alert. She had recognized the Fallen Angel almost immediately, although there was something different about her now. She needed to call a meeting.

All throughout class, Rias stared to her left, where Raynare was sitting. She didn't seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary. She seemed to be intently taking notes, although Rias noticed that every now and then, she peeked at Lelouch, who managed to sleep through class that day.

Raynelle felt Rias glaring at her from her right, but she didn't say anything in fear of agitating the crimson haired Devil. As she brushed a black hair out of her face, she could sense Rias tensing up, as if Rias was expecting her to suddenly attack someone. She quickly glanced at a sleeping Lelouch again and turned back to her notebook, where she was doodling Lelouch's name and surrounding it with hearts.

When class ended, Raynare stood up to wake up her king, but was stopped by Rias, who had already emptied the classroom with subtle threats to her classmates. Rias stood in between Raynare and Lelouch, almost daring Raynare to try and get through.

"Sorry, I need to get through." She said sweetly.

"Drop the act, I know why you're here." Rias replied seriously.

"You do?" She said, still in character.

"You're here to kill Lelouch, and then Issei. I'm not going to let you though." Her hand began charging up a red ball of energy, "I'll stop you right here."

Raynare looked around for a way to escape, but there was nowhere for her to run from Rias. Rias brought her arm back, ready to deliver the blow only to have it seized from behind. The sudden move surprised her and she lost her focus, allowing the ball of energy to disappear.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you attack my servant." Lelouch said coldly.

"Servant?" Rias looked back at Raynare and realized why something was different about her. She was a Devil now, not a Fallen Angel. Rias felt his grip loosen and she dropped her arms to her sides.

"Yes, I'm afraid she's my only piece so far, so I can't lose her right now." He didn't want to show his full hand so early, but he had no choice. Meanwhile, Raynare was swooning at the fact that he had just saved her life. He really was like knight in shining armor.

"So you are a Devil." Rias stated, although she had known it the whole time.

"Yes, I am Duke Lelouch Murmur." He gave a little bow.

Rias looked at him, now even more interested. As he was a Duke, he was already of the same status as the Gremory Clan. She definitely had to become his ally.

"Would you like to come join us at the Occult Research Club? We have a meeting today."

Lelouch pondered the offer for a second before he agreed. It had enough potential to be beneficial to him for him to accept the offer.

He followed Rias through the crowded halls, filled with students rushing home. As she grabbed his hand to keep him from getting lost, he could hear and see his fan girls out of the corner of his eye. Some of them were fuming at Rias for stealing their prince, while others were fully supportive of the new power couple that had seemingly formed.

* * *

"What is she doing here?" Issei asked, pointing to Raynare, still distinctly remembering how she had killed him after their first date.

"She's my servant, so I would ask that you refrain from attacking her, unless you plan on having a Rating Game." Lelouch said, making the hidden threat clear.

Issei grumbled and sat down on the couch, where Koneko was busy enjoying a trifle.

Rias went around the room and introduced Issei, who mumbled something, Koneko, who ignored it and continued eating her snack, Akeno, who giggled, and Kiba, who flashed a cordial smile.

"Well, I suppose I should introduce myself then. I'm Duke Lelouch Murmur." He gave a regal bow.

"Ara ara, a Duke." Akeno laughed. Lelouch glanced at her for a moment. He knew that there was something very wrong beneath her seemingly giddy exterior.

"And this is my rook, Raynare, although I suppose all of you know her already."

"Geez, this guy. Not only is he a pretty boy, but he already started a harem." Issei grumbled. Lelouch looked him over.

From the naked eye, Issei looked rather unimpressive, but to Lelouch's trained gaze coupled with some of the information he had gained from the Murmur Castle library, Issei was a very intriguing piece to have. He knew that the boy harbored the power worthy of a diluted version of the Boosted Gear, so he had the potential to kill a god, yet his inexperience held him back. He imagined that was why Rias had sealed away most of his power anyways. Not to mention the fact that he was extremely perverted. But still, he had the potential to turn the tide in the war against the Angels and the Fallen Angels if Rias was ever willing to remove all of the seals she had placed on him. Lelouch could tell that even though his power was muffled, there was a lot of it radiating from him.

"Well, I think we need to discuss…" Rias began before she was cut off.

"Ah! I'm supposed to be the Harem King!" Issei shouted, surprising Lelouch. It was immediately clear how Lelouch could get his allegiance. He needed an insurance policy. Just in case Rias ever tried to pull something, he wanted to be able to count on at least one person to help him out. Koneko was too smart, while Kiba and Akeno were too loyal.

He had not tried using his Geass on a Devil before, so he had no idea if it would work or not, although Sirzechs had informed him that he had a dormant Sacred Gear that would actually amplify his current Geass. In addition, it would keep the Geass from being permanently active, although it was still in both of his eyes. He hoped that all of this would allow him to Geass Devils, but he didn't know for sure.

Issei would be the only one he could count on if it came to it.

"Sorry, he has a perverted dream about getting his own harem one day." Rias apologized for her pawn's lechery.

"No problem, I once dreamed of the same thing." Lelouch said.

Issei's eyes lit up in interest, "Really?"

Lelouch nodded, "And I succeeded too."

Issei was now completely invested.

"I had the Captain of the Swim Team, the Student Council President, an ace Knightmare Pilot, a Scientist, a Witch, a Lolita, my Gym Teacher, and two Knights of the Round in my harem." Lelouch said, recounting his affairs with Shirley, Milly, Kallen, Cecile, C.C., Kaguya, Villetta, Monica, and Dorothea.

"All at once?" Issei asked incredulously.

Lelouch nodded, "Yeah, it all started when Shirley came to my room because she thought me and Kallen were dating. She dragged Milly along and was ready to rip into me when C.C. dropped by and thought it was a good idea to mess with her by jumping me. Well, Milly being Milly, she jumped straight in and Shirley got pretty jealous and didn't want to be outdone.

Kallen and Kaguya came over from my cries of help, but once they arrived, Kaguya somehow convinced Kallen that since they were part of my harem, it was their duty to join in. Villetta and Cecile were at the fair and they saw us through a window and went to go talk to us about abstinence but somehow ending up joining us.

So one thing led to another and the next thing I know, we're all naked in Schneizel's room on the Damocles when Cornelia walks in followed by Dorothea and Monica. Apparently, we were so loud that they were sent to check it out. They took one look and decided that they didn't want to be left out. And just like that, my harem was born."

The entire room went silent as Lelouch listed his conquests. He was exaggerating a little at the end because Cornelia wasn't there, but he knew that extra detail involving a princess of Britannia would make him a god in Issei's eyes.

Raynare was taken aback, she had thought that Lelouch was a virgin. Koneko's opinion of Lelouch dropped to below Issei's level. Kiba laughed awkwardly while Akeno genuinely laughed. Rias was speechless. She wasn't sure whether she should be impressed or disgusted by Lelouch. And to think, she even thought he was pretty handsome the first time they had met.

Issei began groveling on the floor in front of him.

"You are a Harem God! Please teach me your secrets!"

Lelouch smiled. He had Issei in his grip easily. Seeing the disgusted way Koneko was looking at him, he decided that now would be the best time to test out his Sacred Gear.

"Say, do you think that you could refrain from thinking of me like Issei?" He stared at her face to see if the command would take hold or not. Surprisingly, her eyes became rimmed with red and she nodded, forgetting what Lelouch had just said.

Lelouch smiled and looked at Rias only to see her eyes rimmed with red as well. Confused, he turned and saw Akeno, Raynare, and Kiba both nodding with red around their pupils. Only Issei seemed to be unaffected by his command, likely because the command would not have made sense to him.

"So this is a power of the Sacred Gear as well." He made a mental note to be more specific with his commands in the future.

Rias suddenly snapped out the trance the Geass command had put her in, having completely forgotten what just happened.

Rias repeated herself, "Sorry, he has a perverted dream about getting his own harem one day. Anyways, I would like to extend a formal invitation for both of you to join the Occult Research Club."

Lelouch did not think about it before saying, "I accept." He had already decided beforehand that it would be to his benefit to join the club, as he knew Rias was going to invite him at some point.

He decided to try out his Sacred Gear one more time.

"Say, do you think I could get some tea?" He asked and instantly, everyone in the Occult Research Club, as well as Raynare, got up to get him some tea with red in their eyes.

"So I can use it more than once? Interesting." Lelouch observed as he was handed six cups of tea.

* * *

Lelouch summoned a magical circle so he and Raynare could go home, but he decided to change destinations at the last minute. Red light shone as the two sunk into the floor. When the light died down, Raynare found herself standing outside of a large gate that read "Ashford Academy."

"Do you mind? I need to spend some time here." Lelouch asked.

Raynare shook her head, "Take as long as you need."

It was late afternoon and the sun was already setting, but Lelouch could still see some people on campus setting some sort of festival. He chuckled a little to himself, fondly remembering all of the festivals Milly had forced them to set up over his time at Ashford. As if drawn by some strange force, he couldn't stop himself from opening the gate and walking in.

Rayanre looked upon her king in concern, but followed him nonetheless. She decided to drop her Yuuma appearance as there was no one from Kuoh to see her. She got taller and her features instantly matured, although she still kept her uniform on. She admired the neatly trimmed hedges that funneled them towards the school buildings and the architecture of those buildings. They seemed to be modeled in the latest Britannian style, unlike Kuoh, which was closer to the Japanese style.

Lelouch could see the clubhouse and instantly remembered when he and Nunally had lived there, back before he ever received his Geass. Back then, life was so much simpler. He still wanted to create a gentler world for Nunally, but he had not thought it could actually happen. To think, if he never met C.C., he would probably be in university right now with Suzaku and Shirley. Not to mention, Euphie would still be alive as a human, not an Angel.

Lelouch knew that he should not be thinking about her, he would only be inviting trouble if he did. But still, he couldn't help but think about the nights he had spent with her as a child, just looking up at the stars, or the way she had taken his breath away when he finally saw her again after six years at Lake Kawaguchi. And the surprised look on her face when he shot her.

"Why Lelouch?" He fell to the ground as the words rang in his head once again. Raynare quickly rushed to his side and helped him back to his feet. Her face registered shock as she noticed the tears staining his face. She had never seen him show that much emotion at once.

"Lelouch, it's okay." A voice rang out. Raynare instinctively prepared herself for battle as she saw a white figure descend from the sky.

"Raynare, don't worry." Lelouch ordered. She complied, but kept a careful gaze on Euphemia.

"Euphie, how did you know that I was going to be here?" He questioned.

"Lelouch, I'm your sister, I just know these kind of things." Euphemia replied, as if Lelouch should have expected more from her.

She looked over at the students working at the festival and smiled, fondly remembering the festival she had witnessed three years ago. She giggled as a tall blond who was painting a sign accidentally knocked the paint onto a pink haired girl, covering her in green paint. She immediately got up and began chasing the boy, whose braids bounced wildly. A blue haired boy tried to stop the girl, but was barreled over by her.

Lelouch also looked on with a faint smile on his lips. He could tell that Rivalz was doing his best to stop her, but he didn't expect Kallen to listen to him, especially since it looked like she wasn't posing as weak anymore. And Gino was lucky that Kallen was into him, otherwise he would be dead for spilling paint on her.

Gino slowed down enough to let Kallen catch him. From far away, Lelouch couldn't tell what he was saying, but he assumed it was another smooth line that Gino used to calm her down. Evidently, it worked because he was pulled into a kiss by Kallen.

Lelouch felt his hands curl into fists. He was angry both at God and at the couple. He knew that he deserved to suffer, but he was still angry at the fact that he could never be with Euphie like Gino could be with Kallen.

"I've seen enough." He created a magic circle underneath him and Raynare.

"Wait Lelouch!" Euphemia tried to stop him, but before she could, he was gone in a flash of red light.

Lelouch and Raynare were transported to the foyer of the castle. Wordlessly, Lelouch walked up to his bedroom. Concerned, Raynare followed him up the stairs. She turned to the left and opened the bedroom door to see Lelouch sitting on the foot of the bed, staring at the ground.

"I killed her you know?" He muttered, "My own sister."

"You had no choice, she was going to wipe out Area 11." Raynare said, trying to reassure him. She remembered how Euphemia had set up the Special Administrative Zone as a trap for all of the Japanese, but before she could massacre all of them, Zero had stopped her.

"It was my fault though. I accidentally commanded her to. It's all my fault." Lelouch said, knowing his hands would never be clean again, "She deserved more from life."

"There's something more, isn't there?" Raynare asked. It was clear that Lelouch was hiding something from her.

He slowly nodded, "I loved her."

"Well, brothers and sisters all love each other." Raynare said, seeing nothing wrong with that.

"No, I mean, I lusted after her." Lelouch admitted.

This, Raynare had not been expecting.

"And now, she's an Angel. Not only will we never be together, but we have to be mortal enemies now. I've tried forgetting about her, but I haven't been able to keep her out of my mind since we were children."

She looked on in concern at her king, "Then I'll help you forget about her."

Lelouch felt Raynare pull the collar of his uniform towards her.

"What?" Lelouch was interrupted by Raynare's lips. They kissed him passionately, and forced him to fall onto his back with her straddling him. He had to admit, it was nice, but the kiss only made him think about what it would be like to kiss Euphie.

"I can't do this." He whispered, getting out from underneath her and standing up.

"Please Lelouch, you can't let her hold you down. I won't allow my king to be held down by some righteous Angel! She's a murderer! She doesn't deserve you!" She spat out the last part with venom. She really hated the fact that Euphemia could take all of Lelouch's attention.

A loud smack rang through the castle. Raynare slowly put a hand up to the cheek where Lelouch had slapped her. He had used enough force to knock her to the ground and she could still feel the stinging pain intensifying as she touched it.

"Don't talk about her like that!" He screamed, furious that someone could say such things about Euphie.

In a softer voice, he whispered, "I'm the one who doesn't deserve her."

"Lelouch, you can't keep looking back. The past is the past. How can you expect her to forgive you if you can't forgive yourself?" She said, pulling him into an embrace and burying herself into his back. It had hurt her that he slapped her, but she knew that he was going through more pain than he had caused her.

He was silent for a moment, amazed that Raynare had not turned on him for what he had just done.

"That's an intriguing notion, in its own way." He mused, having released all of his anger on Raynare.

He turned to face her and looked at the red mark he had left on her face.

"I'm sorry. I was out of line and I shouldn't have done that." He apologized, furious at himself for losing his cool.

"It's fine. You'll just have to repay me." Raynare teased playfully. Lelouch was definitely surprised that she wasn't furious at him. Before he could dwell on it any more, his lips were assaulted by hers. She pushed him back onto the bed, but in a swift move, Lelouch flipped them over so that he was on top.

"Please, my king." She begged, trying to reach his lips.

He smiled and obliged her by closing the gap. She groaned in delight as he pulled away a bit and lightly brushed his lips against hers. He smiled, he had tried the same trick with Shirley before, and by the end, she was begging for him to rip her clothes off. Suddenly his mind wandered to how Euphie would react to his teasing.

He absent mindedly forced his tongue inside of Raynare's mouth and struggled with hers. At first he dominated the kiss, but as his mind wandered, Raynare began to overpower him. She reached a hand up to his chest and began unbuttoning his uniform. He began to think about how Euphie would react to his tongue. No doubt he would dominate the kiss. He would release every pent up emotion he ever had for her in a kiss and make her realize that he had never stopped loving her.

His mind came back to reality and he noticed that he was left only in his boxers. He looked down and saw Raynare completely naked on her back. She must have stripped both of them down when he wasn't paying attention. He almost chuckled. She was certainly eager. Even Milly was never in such a hurry.

He suddenly began to wonder how Euphie would react to him seeing her naked body. She definitely would be a little bit embarrassed, but she would forget it all once they were making love. With her, he didn't want to have sex. He wanted to make love and make her know how much he loved her. She deserved that much after the horrible crime he had committed.

Raynare was begging to be touched and Lelouch obliged her with a dazed look on her face. He began gently caressing her breasts and sucked on her already erect nipples, making her wriggle in pleasure underneath him.

He couldn't help but think back to Euphemia. About how she would squeal in delight as he gently ran over every surface of her body with his tongue, making sure that she was completely satisfied before he even thought about sating his own appetite. With Raynare, he didn't care as much. If he wanted satisfaction, he would take it.

Instinctively, Lelouch moved off of Raynare and stood up beside the bed, removing his boxers. She eagerly climbed down and kneeled in front of him.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as felt a hand run up and down his length. He gave a little moan to let her know to continue. She gripped him a little tighter and stopped stroking him. He was about to question why she stopped when she tentatively licked his member.

Lelouch's mind wandered again to Euphie, and how she would react to seeing his length. She would probably be confused, like the innocent girl she was. It would be awkward at first, but they would be able to figure out what to do.

The feeling of Raynare's mouth around him pulled him back to reality. He grabbed a fistful of her hair as she took his entire length into her mouth. Her head bobbed up and down, making Lelouch throw his head back in pleasure. Even if he didn't consider what he was doing with Rynare anything more than sex, it didn't mean that he couldn't indulge his carnal desires. After all, he was still a teenager with raging hormones.

He pushed her head back and pulled her to the edge of the bed roughly. He wondered how Euphie would react if he was rough with her. Would she be scared and run away? Or would she enjoy it?

"Please be gentle. It's my first time." Raynare stammered. Lelouch nodded slightly and slowly pushed into her. Raynare closed her eyes and gripped the blue silk blankets as she felt him fill her. He imagined Euphie's reaction. He would do his best not to hurt her, but she would still probably cry out a bit. He would have to kiss her over and over again to remind her how much he loved her.

He began to slowly thrust in and out of her, barely registering his actions, his mind too caught up in his thoughts.

Raynare was no longer feeling pain and had wrapped her legs around him, forcing him to thrust faster by the time Lelouch realized what was going on. She cried out in ecstasy as she felt herself reach her climax. Lelouch was back in reality and was close as well.

A wave of pleasure rocked Raynare's body as she came, screaming Lelouch's name. After a few more thrusts, Lelouch shuddered, emptying himself inside of her. Raynare was in too much pleasure to register that Lelouch had cried out a different name.

They collapsed into the bed, exhausted for the night.

"See? I told you I could make you forget about that dumb princess." Raynare said, cuddling into Lelouch's chest. He nodded absent mindedly. She didn't have to know that he was already replaying the events in his head, only with Euphie in her place.

On Raynare's part, she was completely satisfied. At first, she had her doubts about betraying the Fallen Angels and becoming a servant to a Devil, but after she had given him her virginity and he in turn, she knew that their bond was far stronger than any bond she had with any of the other Fallen Angels.

She had never understood why some Angels were so willing to become Fallen Angels for love, but she now thought she had a pretty good idea of why they did it. She had never been in love before, but the warm feeling that settled over her as she curled up next to her king could only be love. She made a choice. Right now she would do anything for her Lelouch.

* * *

Lelouch groaned as sunlight washed over his face. Seeing as it was Saturday and he had been in the middle of a peaceful sleep, he didn't want it to end. When it was clear that the sun wasn't going to stop shining, Lelouch gave up and got out of bed. He glanced over to Raynare's sleeping figure. He didn't want to wake her up yet, after all, they had a long day ahead of them.

He walked into the bathroom and as he washed his face, he thought about what had just happened last night. He had taken Raynare's virginity and she was now convinced he loved her. Although the second part wasn't true, he saw no reason to make her think otherwise. After all, if she loved him, she would be a loyal piece to him.

He quietly returned to his room and began rummaging through his drawers for something acceptable to wear for his meeting. As he flipped through his clothes, he noticed that he still kept a copy of his Zero costume without the mask. He looked at it for a second before he decided that it was an acceptable way for a Devil to dress.

As he pulled on his black gloves, he heard Raynare stirring besides him.

"Lelouch?" She asked drearily.

"Raynare, get dressed. We have a meeting to attend." He ordered.

* * *

Raynare was in awe at the castle in front of them. She had already thought that Lelouch's castle was impressive, but it was nothing compared to the palace in front of them.

"Come on, I don't think Sirzechs would appreciate it if we're late." Lelouch said, walking ahead at a brisk pace. She did her best to keep up with him as he walked through the maze of corridors that made up the interior of the castle. Lelouch had met with Sirzechs before, so it wasn't long before he was standing in front of a crimson door.

As they entered, the sleeping crimson haired Satan was nudged awake by his wife, who was standing next to his chair.

"Lelouch!" He greeted warmly.

"Nice to see you again Sirzechs. Same with you Grayfia."

"Before we get into our meeting, what do you say to a game of chess?"

Lelouch smiled, "Bring out the chessboard."

Sirzechs snapped his fingers and a table with a chessboard on top appeared. As they began playing, Sirzechs decided to speak up.

"So, I see you have yourself a servant now."

Lelouch glanced at the chessboard for a second before he made another move, "Yes. Raynare's my rook."

"Do you have more servants in mind yet?" Sirzechs asked, inwardly panicking because Lelouch had already put him into check.

"No, not really. But I think I can pick a few up from somewhere." Lelouch said, deciding to move his king.

"Why would you move your king?" Sirzechs asked, interested in Lelouch's strategy.

"If a king does not lead, how does he expect his subordinates to follow?" Lelouch replied moving another piece, "Checkmate."

Sirzechs just laughed and shook his head, "This is very good. I can see you'll be a natural at Rating Games."

He snapped his fingers again and the table disappeared back into the ground.

"Actually, that's why I wanted to talk with you. You remember that contract we made?"

Lelouch nodded.

"Well, this is my first request. I need you to defeat Riser Phenex in a Rating Game."

"May I ask why you need him defeated?"

"My father arranged for Riser and my sister to be engaged. To be honest, I personally cannot stand the Phenex Clan, and Riser's the worst of them. That's where you come in. Riser is as confident as they come. If you challenge him, he will accept it. He cannot resist a good challenge."

"I still don't have enough pieces though."

"You don't need to do it yet. You just have to be ready by the time that the engagement is announced."

"And when exactly will that be?"

"About a month."

Lelouch sighed. He was going to have some work ahead of him.

* * *

**Now I'm wondering, how do you guys feel about a Rias and Lelouch pairing? I actually feel like that pairing might work. Also, do you guys think I should add Gino as one of Lelouch's pieces? He's personally one of my favorite characters on Code Geass and I want to find a way to include him. And don't worry, he wouldn't be part of Lelouch's harem or anything. He'd have his own relationship, preferably with Kallen because I just think that GIno and Kallen should be together. So, please leave your thoughts below or in a PM. I would really appreciate all feedback!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I know that a lot of people were disappointed in the original chapter, and I know that it's frustrating when there are huge plot holes that seemingly everyone but the author can see. So I decided to try and add extra scenes and such to help explain this chapter more. I don't know if this will satisfy anyone who was unhappy, but I hope it's a step in the right direction. I didn't change anything about the core chapter, but instead supplemented it with extra scenes to explain some things. I hope you guys enjoy this more than the original.**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story. It really helps to know that people actually care enough about this story to write a review. It certainly makes me more inclined to write this story. Thank you so much to CrazySasori, who has given so much help. To be honest, with all of the help you've given me, this may as well be your story.**

**Since people think that Kallen and Lelouch make a far better pairing that Kallen and Gino, I'm going to agree with that. I'm going to be honest though, I actually like the Lelouch and Rias pairing more. Also, I know that the Gino and Kallen scene this chapter might be a little rushed, but I want to build up Lelouch's group so he can go ahead and destroy Riser(if you couldn't tell, I kind of hate Riser Phenex). Since Issei isn't the focus of my story, the church scene might be a little rushed too. Despite all of this, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 3

Issei sat and listened to Asia's story. He knew how lonely it must have felt for her to be an outcast, and all he wanted to do was to comfort her.

"I'll be your friend. We already spent the day together. We've talked and played together today. We're friends!"

Asia's eyes began to fill with tears of joy, "Issei."

"Oh how fucking sweet! A Devil and an outcast nun!" A voice cackled.

"Freed!" Issei growled, clenching his fists.

"Since I'm feeling generous today, I'll make a deal. You give me the girl and I don't kill you, how does that sound?"

Issei stepped protectively in front of Asia, "No, you're just going to hurt her."

"Well of course! She ran away from our church and she must be punished. But there's no reason both of you have to die today." Freed said, already getting impatient.

"Okay, I'll go with you."

Issei turned around to see Asia walking towards Freed.

"No Asia, don't!"

Asia smiled, "It's okay Issei. I'm happy that at least you were my friend." She smiled before Freed grabbed her and ran away.

"No, Asia!" Issei began running after them but lost his footing and slipped. He lay on the ground, defeated.

"Asia!"

* * *

Kallen had to stifle a groan as she felt Gino nibbling on her ear again. She had a ton of homework to do and he was not helping. That thought reminded her of how behind she was in school from her work with the Black Knights. Back then, she wasn't just a student, but Lelouch's queen.

Lelouch. He had sacrificed himself so that his sister could live in peace. But why was he so eager to leave everyone behind? Didn't he know how much she loved him? How much she needed him? He was so eager to satisfy everyone but himself. It killed her whenever someone spat on his name. If only they knew what he had done for all of them, then they would celebrating him. But no, he had follow through with that stupid plan of his. She had shown her love for him, was that not enough? Did Euphemia and Shirley really mean that much to him so that he was willing to die?

That stupid Suzaku didn't even have enough sense to talk him out of it. She gripped her pencil tightly as she thought about how he had ruined everything.

"Thinking about him again, huh?" Gino asked, suddenly more serious. He knew that Kallen was in love in Lelouch and that she would never truly love him. He wasn't deaf to her cries of Lelouch's name during sex. He wasn't blind to the fact that the only time she truly smiled was when she woke up and thought that she was with Lelouch, not him.

He loved her so much more than Lelouch ever did! Why couldn't she see that? Kallen had told him some of the truth behind the Zero Requiem, but he still didn't exactly see Lelouch in the same light she did. Good intentions or not, he was still a liar and a murderer. How could she love someone like that?

He figured that he was a good enough replacement for her. He had the same blond hair and same blue eyes. From far away, one could mistake him for the Demon Emperor himself. She needed someone to take Lelouch's place, and it just so happened that he fit the bill. He was nothing more than an actor for her.

Still, he loved her enough to accept that this was the only way. If he didn't play this part for her, he honestly thought she might hurt herself. He knew how bad it hurt when you wake up and you realize that someone you care for is gone forever. He had felt it with Suzaku, who had been his best friend in the world. Maybe that was what attracted him in the first place. She was the only one who really understood what he had gone through, and he didn't want her to go through the same thing. Even if it meant that she would never love him, it was worth it knowing that at least Kallen was living on.

"No way, I'm just a little stressed out." Kallen replied with a fake smile that didn't fool anyone. They both knew the truth.

"Okay, I'll leave you alone. We'll have plenty of time to spend together at the fair tomorrow." Gino said, trying to flash his famous smile, but finding himself unable to. He had a lot of trouble smiling like that recently.

* * *

"Asia!" Issei yelled as he stormed up to the newly built doors of the church with Kiba and Koneko. Lelouch followed closely behind. It was his first act as a member of the Occult Research Club, and it was a valuable way to assess the other members.

So far, aside from Issei, no one else really intrigued him. Issei meanwhile, was becoming more interesting. He led them to this church to rescue a nun of all people. Lelouch found that the oddest things motivated him.

Lelouch focused some energy and easily blasted the doors off of their hinges with a powerful wind. Inside, they could see Asia tied to a cross and crying for help. As the group moved inside, they found themselves surrounded by exorcists.

"We walked into a trap." Lelouch snarled, furious that he had allowed himself to be caught.

"All of you Devils are so fucking stupid!" Freed cackled.

"Freed, how did you take control?" Raynare asked in surprise. She had expected Kalawarner to take control, but the fact that they had let a human take command just proved to Raynare how weak her subordinates really were.

"It doesn't matter because in the end, you're all going to die!" He said, laughing maniacally, "Starting with this bitch!" He said, glaring at Asia.

"How vulgar." Koneko deadpanned as she picked up a pew and tossed it at him. The man moved surprisingly quickly and dodged the pew as it shattered behind him. He pulled out his sword and before anyone could react, quickly drove it through Asia's chest.

"No!" Issei yelled. He fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands. Using this moment of weakness, the exorcists decided to attack. Lelouch quickly put up a barrier to protect the group.

"Issei! Pull yourself together. I know how terrible you feel, but if you die now, she'll have sacrificed herself for nothing!" Lelouch ordered, hoping that Issei would respond.

"I failed to protect her." He muttered, but suddenly rage overtook him and he stood up with fire in his eyes.

"Give her back!" He screamed and his Sacred Gear responded with, "Dragon Booster!"

Lelouch gave a little smile and took down the barrier, setting Issei free. Issei instantly dashed into the crowd and began to swing away at exorcists with his new found power.

"Boost!" The Sacred Gear cried out again and Issei seemed to move even faster.

"Promotion, Knight!" Issei yelled and he instantly became a blur, quickly taking down several more exorcists.

Kiba followed his lead and using his enhanced speed, began to clash swords with several exorcists. Koneko meanwhile, was dealing out massive amounts of damage by hurling everything in sight, much like a catapault.

Lelouch almost yawned as he began vaporizing exorcists left and right. He began to focus energy inside of his right hand, creating a large fireball. He tossed it right at a group and watched them burn. Alone, he probably could have taken all of these exorcists, but with Issei, Kiba, Raynare, and Koneko joining him, it was a piece of cake.

It was hard to watch, but the anger that had overtaken Issei finally allowed him to use the Boosted Gear.

Lelouch summoned a lightning strike that obliterated most of the remaining exorcists while Raynare was by his side, deflecting any attacks that came at him. Suddenly, a winged figure crashed through a window and landed in front of a panting Issei. Rias and Akeno floated in through the hole that Kalawarner had made when she was thrown through the window. The Fallen Angel quickly glanced around for any signs of help, keying in on a familiar face.

"Raynare! Please, you have to help me!" She pleaded. Raynare looked to her friend and back at Lelouch, the conflict evident on her face. Lelouch almost frowned at her indecision, but saw how hard the decision could be to make. Knowing what would sway Raynare, he captured her lips in a chaste kiss. Once they broke apart, she turned back to Kalawarner.

"Sorry Kalawarner, but I cannot betray my king." Raynare replied with resolve, cuddling up next to Lelouch.

Lelouch smirked. She certainly would be loyal to him, that much was sure.

"Step out of the way, Issei, I'll finish this. Tend to Asia." Rias ordered, appearing with Akeno. She stood in front of Kalawarner and vaporized her with a blast of crimson energy.

"You bitch!" Freed came out from his hiding place and caught Rias off guard. Rias looked up in surprise and put her arms up to block an attack that never came. Lelouch had instantly reacted and blasted Freed away from her with a blast of lightning.

"Thank you." Rias gasped out. Without Lelouch, there was a good chance that she could have died.

He strolled over to the burnt exorcist, who looked to be in excruciating pain.

He leaned down next to his ear and whispered, "Thank you for making my job easier." He pointed his index finger up against the side of Freed's head. He focused for a moment and a large icicle lodged itself in the exorcist's skull.

"Asia." Issei weeped for the loss of the blond girl. Rias kneeled down beside him.

"Do you know what this is?" She asked, holding up a bishop.

"A bishop piece."

"Yes, now I already used a bishop, but I still have one more." Rias placed the bishop on Asia's chest.

"I command thee, Asia Argento, on my name, Rias Gremory, become my servant and once more return thy soul to this land and become a Devil. Thou shall now live a new life with great joy as my bishop!"

The magic circle shined brightly and the bishop embedded itself inside of her chest. As the light died down, Asia's eyes began to flutter open.

"Issei?" She called out weakly.

"Issei, you're her senior Devil now, so make sure you protect her." Rias said.

"Right Buchou!" Issei replied as he hugged Asia.

Lelouch yawned as he observed the scene from his place leaning against the doorframe. Coming along hadn't really taught him too much about the others, although he did save Rias' life, so he supposed that would benefit him later.

* * *

"The school fair this year will be a collaboration between Kuoh and Ashford to signify the improving relations between Britannia and the rest of the world." Rias announced to the rest of the Occult Research Club.

"Because of this, I think it'll be a good time to get more contracts signed, as there will be twice as many students." Rias continued, "So Issei and Asia, you'll hand out flyers and Lelouch and Raynare will take the requests."

Lelouch nodded absent mindedly, busy reading a book.

* * *

Lelouch groaned as he heard another request for a kiss from one of his fan girls. He had already filled out ten requests along the same lines. At least he was getting them to sign the contracts without any problems.

* * *

"Hey Kallen, do you think we should actually try these out?" Gino asked as they looked over the flyers that a boy had handed them earlier. He had explained that they could fulfill basically any wish.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I guess it couldn't hurt."

"I wish I could see Lelouch again." As the words spilled out of her mouth, she instantly regretted them. Gino looked sadly away, not needing another reminder of what he was not, or specifically, who he was not.

The contract began glowing purple and before their eyes, a black haired figure appeared out the ground.

"You summoned me, so let's get this over with." Lelouch said, guessing what the request was from his previous fifteen contracts. He grabbed Kallen by the shoulders and gave her a quick kiss, eager to get it over with so he could get the contract signed. Instead, he received a punch to his face.

"What was that, you creep?" Kallen yelled.

Lelouch looked up at the person who just punched him and her companion and suddenly noticed power radiating from both of them. There was no doubt that they were both harboring Sacred Gears.

"Kallen?" He exclaimed in surprise at the sight of his former queen.

"And how do you know my name?"

Lelouch looked to his right, "Gino?"

"Answer her question." Gino said sternly. Lelouch was taken aback by the change in demeanor the normally cheerful blond seemed to have undergone.

Hesitantly, Lelouch nodded.

"Gino, Kallen, remember who I am." He ordered. Their eyes rimmed with red as they fulfilled his request. Instantly, their minds remembered the true form of Lelouch, rather than the form implanted in their minds by Sirzechs.

The memories came rushing back in their true forms, forcing Kallen to relive each one. The first time she saw him in class. Their kiss. The sight of Suzaku stabbing him.

"Lelouch?" Kallen asked, fully expecting him to be a ghost. But in that moment, she didn't care if he was real or not. With tears streaming down her face, she hugged him. He patted her on the back, trying to convince her that she was not dreaming.

Meanwhile Gino looked on in a mixture of surprise and jealousy. On one hand, Kallen could actually be happy now, but on the other hand, it was clear that her future didn't lie with him.

"But how? Wasn't it a part of your plan to die?" She asked, still in disbelief.

Lelouch hesitated for a moment, but decided to come clean.

"I'm a Devil now. That was never a part of the plan." Kallen looked at him in disbelief and he continued.

"So, what was your request anyways?"

"I wanted to see you again." He smiled a bit. Kallen still loved him.

"Well, you got your wish fulfilled." He said, pulling away from her.

"Are you just going to leave me?" She cried out.

He nodded in response, "I have a new plan that I have to work towards."

Before he could take one more step, Kallen's voice rang out.

"I want to come with you." She had already lost him once, she wasn't going to lose him again.

"No, you're living a normal life now, I can't take that away from you."

"Do you know how many sleepless nights I've had since you died? I can barely force myself out of bed some mornings. I didn't have anything to live for anymore. I used to be your queen and now I'm nothing. All I want is to be by your side, why can't you see that?" Kallen said with tears in her eyes.

Her life without being Zero's queen was purposeless. Being a part of the Black Knights, fighting against Britannia. Those things gave her a purpose. But now, Ohgi was prime minister, Nunally was the Empress of Britannia, Suzaku was Zero, heck, even Tamaki had a bistro to run! How was it that she was the only one who was left behind?

Lelouch could only look back in surprise.

"Okay." He replied, "But know that if you become a Devil, your life will completely change." He warned.

"The life I'm living now means nothing to me. I have nothing to work towards. I just want to know what it feels like to have purpose again." Kallen said coldly, not caring that Gino could hear her.

"All right." Lelouch summoned a magical circle, "Lie down in the circle."

He pulled a queen piece out of his pocket and placed it on her chest.

"I command thee, Kallen Kozuki, on my name, Lelouch Murmur, become my servant and once more return thy soul to this land and become a Devil. Thou shall now live a new life with great joy as my queen!"

The piece slowly sunk into her chest and the circle began to glow brightly. As it finished sinking in, Kallen took her first breath as a Devil.

"Gino, are you going to join her?" Lelouch questioned.

"I don't know if I can." He admitted. He couldn't help but feel uneasy around Lelouch. After all, he did essentially lie to all of the about his death and while Gino wasn't one to hold grudges, Lelouch did schedule him for an execution. But Kallen seemed perfectly fine with trusting Lelouch.

"I'll never pressure you into doing this you know. The only request I have is that you do not tell anyone that I am alive."

Gino nodded, "I figured as much."

He looked at Kallen who was now sitting up and staring dreamily at her new king. As much as it hurt him to see that, he could never be angry at Kallen. All he wanted to do was to protect her and keep her safe from harm.

He cursed himself for loving her so much as he replied, "I'll do it."

Gino took his place inside of the magical circle. Lelouch carefully fingered his two knights. He didn't want to use both already, but given that Gino had great potential as a knight, he decided that it was worth it. He placed both on top of Gino's chest and began the incantation.

"I command thee, Gino Weinberg, on my name, Lelouch Murmur, become my servant and once more return thy soul to this land and become a Devil. Thou shall now live a new life with great joy as my knight!"

Gino saw red light cloud his vision and felt two knights sink into his chest and embed themselves inside of him.

* * *

Rias and Akeno were busy enjoying tea when the door to the Occult Research Club opened, revealing Lelouch, followed by Kallen, who was wrapped around his right arm, Raynare, who was wrapped around his left arm, and Gino, who followed a short distance behind.

"All right, I've gotten fifteen contracts signed." He informed them. As he did so, Issei, Asia, Koneko, and Kiba walked in.

"Who exactly are these two?" Rias asked, a little irritated at the way Kallen and Raynare were staring at Lelouch.

"Kallen is now my queen and Gino is now my knight." He introduced the two students standing next to him.

"Ara ara, Lelouch, you are more of a sexual beast than Issei!" Akeno remarked before sipping some tea.

"Right…" Lelouch replied, a bit embarrassed by Akeno's remark.

"Well, this is Akeno, Koneko, Issei, and Kiba." Rias went down the line, introducing the members of her club.

"Kiba!" Gino smiled and wrapped his arms around the blond.

"Hey Gino, how's it going?" Kiba replied with a laugh.

"Oh Lelouch, if you only told me that Kiba was here, I wouldn't have hesitated to become a Devil!" Gino exclaimed.

"Ara ara, Gino sure is affectionate." Akeno observed.

Gino placed his right arm around Kiba, "Well of course I am! Kiba's been my best friend in our dojo! By the way, did you know that regular people have dojos too?"

"Buchou, Asia and I finished passing out flyers." Issei interjected.

"Good. Well then, I think everyone is free to go home." Rias clapped her hands together.

As soon as the room cleared out, Akeno laughed, "Ara ara, you're jealous of Kallen and Raynare, aren't you?"

"No!" Rias immediately replied, although the blush on her face didn't agree with her.

* * *

"I know that it's going to be hard to trust me after what I've done." Lelouch sighed as he leaned against the railing. He and Gino were currently standing alone out on the balcony of his castle.

Gino nodded, "That would be an understatement."

"Do you know what my goal was?" He asked Gino, who shook his head in response.

"I wanted to create a gentler world for Nunally." Lelouch finished, lamenting the fact that he could never tell her the truth, "But I can't do that until the Fallen Angels, Angels, and Devils are at peace with each other."

Gino nodded slowly. He still didn't trust Lelouch entirely, but he did want to make the world a better place for his Empress. After all, as the Knight of Two, it was his duty. He may not understand that much about the world, but he did understand how important duty and honor are.

"All right Lelouch. I will do everything in my power to make sure you achieve that dream. Not for you, but for Empress Nunally." Gino said, kneeling before his king.

"What are you doing?" Lelouch asked.

"I'll have to act as your personal knight to make sure that no harm comes to you. We can't make the world a gentler place if you're dead." He had to admit, Lelouch was incredibly important. He knew that no human alive and probably no Devil either, could strategize like Lelouch. Even if he didn't like the guy, he had to keep him safe. Actually, he did like Lelouch, but he would be lying if he wasn't jealous of the fact that Kallen was in love with him instead.

* * *

"I'm Kallen Kozuki." The red haired queen said sweetly, drawing stares from the male student body.

"And I'm Gino Weinberg." The blond haired knight said with a dashing smile, making all of the women and some of the men in the room swoon.

"They've just recently transferred to Kuoh Academy from Ashford Academy, so I hope everyone gives them a warm welcome." The teacher announced to the class before directing the two to the empty seats in front of Raynare and Rias respectively.

Somehow, Lelouch doubted that would be a problem as the two received numerous phone numbers upon the moment that they sat down. By the end of the day, it was common knowledge that the "Beautiful Corner" had expanded with the Third Great Lady of Kuoh Academy and the Third Great Prince of Kuoh Academy.

Not only that, but the rumor that Kiba, Lelouch, and Gino were all in a relationship had spread like wildfire. On his part, Gino did not do anything contrary to the rumor. Whenever he saw Kiba, his infectious smile broke out and he got touch feely with the blond pretty boy.

With Lelouch, he always acted like a knight, offering to carry his king's books and escorting him to class. Although Gino could hear squealing whenever he did that, he didn't mind. After all, he had dealt with his own fan girls back at Ashford.

Lelouch was getting rather annoyed with the fact that the fan girls in Kuoh seemed to have a strange obsession with yaoi while Kiba continued on as usual, not minding the extra attention.

Meanwhile, the Perverted Trio was steaming at the fact that the Princely Trio of Kuoh Academy was now better known and vastly more respected than themselves. Most of their anger was directed at Gino and Kiba rather than Lelouch because Issei had convinced Matsuda and Motohama that Lelouch was a "Harem God."

In addition, Sona and her queen were also slightly peeved that Kallen had knocked them down a spot in overall popularity.

"What should we do?" Tsubaki Shinra asked her president.

"I think we need to meet with Lelouch." Sona responded. Tsubaki nodded and left to do her president's bidding, but not before swooning at the way Gino escorted Lelouch and Kiba to their classes with his arms around the two.

* * *

Lelouch was on the verge of falling asleep in yet another class when he got summoned by the Student Council.

"What is this about?" He asked suspiciously.

"The president would like to speak to you." Came the reply. As he stood up, Gino did as well.

"Gino, sit down." Lelouch ordered.

"No, as your knight it is my duty to accompany you." Gino replied, drawing some familiar squeals from fan girls.

Lelouch rolled his eyes, "Fine."

He was led to the student council room, which he noticed was empty aside from a black haired girl sitting behind a table with a chessboard set up on top of it.

"I assume that you're the president." Lelouch said, shaking her hand.

"Sona Sitri. And you must be two of the Princes of Kuoh Academy." Sona replied, subtly looking over the two men. While Gino's emotions were easy to read, Lelouch was an entirely different case. He always had the same emotionless stare and was a master at hiding his true thoughts.

"Lelouch Murmur."

"And I'm Gino, his favorite knight." Gino added.

"Gino, you're my only knight."

"But I'm still your favorite." Gino replied, leaping onto Lelouch's back. Sona had to hold back her inner fan girl at their exchange. Not only were the two ridiculously handsome, but just knowing that they were dating Kiba made them even hotter. Sure, she might have had a crush on Kiba, but the thought of him with Lelouch and Gino was way hotter.

She cleared her throat and pushed all thoughts of yaoi out of her mind, "Um, well, I thought that we should play a game of chess. I think that a game would really help us to get to know each other."

Lelouch nodded and took some black pieces. She was instantly interested.

"Any reason you choose black?" Sona asked.

"No, not really." He said, putting on his poker face. Outwardly, he was exuding a sense of calm, but inside, his mind was working frantically on his strategy. After Sona made her first move, Lelouch countered with his own. Gino watched the battle of the two minds, completely overwhelmed by the strategy of the two.

"So, I assume that the student council is composed of your servants." Lelouch asked, trying to make small talk.

Sona nodded, completely focused on the game. Lelouch took a look at the current board and decided to move his king.

"Why do you move your king?"

Lelouch smiled and recited his favorite phrase, "If a king does not lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?" Sona thought about it for a second. That phrase seemed very familiar, almost as if she had heard it on TV or something.

Lelouch yawned as he put Sona into checkmate. She knew he was a high ranking Devil, but he seemed so lazy.

"Thank you for the game." Lelouch managed before he fell asleep. Looking at his sleeping form, Sona couldn't help but admire how handsome he was when he wasn't scheming.

"Sorry, but we have a meeting today after school." Gino apologized, picking Lelouch up in his arms bridal style.

"It's fine. It was actually a very entertaining game." Gino nodded and carried his sleeping king out of the room.

Tsubaki opened the door for them and once they left the room, she immediately put her hands over her heart and tried to fan herself.

"I assume that you like them?" Sona asked her vice president.

"Sorry, but the princely love they have for each other is so dreamy! Don't tell me that you aren't at least impressed by Lelouch. After all, he is the first person to ever beat you in chess." Tsubaki replied, knowing full well that Sona refused to marry anyone who couldn't beat her in a game of chess.

Sona nodded, "He is impressive, isn't he?"

* * *

Lelouch awoke to find himself in Gino's arms.

"You can put me down." Gino nodded and let him out of his arms.

Lelouch composed himself before he entered the clubhouse, where Rias was pacing back and forth.

He noticed Grayfia and asked, "What's going on?"

Grayfia took Lelouch aside while Akeno brought out some tea for everyone.

"Riser coming to take Rias back to the Underworld, where they're going to announce their engagement." She informed him.

"So this is what Sirzechs told me about?" Lelouch asked, receiving a nod from Grayfia.

"Also, there's one more thing. Sirzechs wants you to offer to marry Rias so the Gremory Clan doesn't try to arrange another marriage." She added.

"What? Sirzechs wants me to marry his sister?" Lelouch replied, thinking he must have heard wrong, but the nod Grayfia gave him informed him that he had heard right.

Rias began speaking, "Okay everybody, I actually have something to announce." Before she could finish, a magic circle and a wall of flame appeared in the center of the room.

"My lovely Rias, I have come to see you." A blond haired man that Lelouch instantly recognized as Riser Phenex walked out of the flames and stood next to Rias.

"I know it's sudden, but let's go visit the location for the ceremony. The date's been set, so it's better to get it over with." He informed an annoyed Rias.

"Let go of me Riser!" Rias said, pushing the blond Devil away.

"Who is this guy?" Issei asked, getting agitated at the man who was bothering his Buchou.

"So, you haven't told your servants about me?" He chuckled.

Grayfia began to explain, "This is Riser Phenex. He's a pure blood high class Devil and is the third son from the legendary Phenex family. And also, he is the spouse of the next heir of the Gremory family."

"But Buchou is the next heir of the Gremory family…" Issei trailed off, putting two and two together.

"I already told you, I won't marry you Raser!" Rias snapped at the Devil, who wasn't getting the hint.

"Well, your parents are pressing about this issue. After all, they're afraid that the Gremory Clan will go extinct. Isn't it natural for Pure Blooded Devils to protect the household by joining together? You and I both know how valuable a pure blooded offspring is."

"I won't marry you. I'll marry someone who I think is good." Rias replied.

"Who will you find that you think is good? That pawn of yours? You and I both know that your parents would never accept that." Riser asked, confident that Rias would not be able to answer.

"Well, I could always take Lelouch. He's pureblooded and a Duke, so my parents would accept that." Lelouch wondered for a moment if Rias was in on Sirzech's plan.

Riser snorted, "You mean that loser? He barely looks like he could run a mile, much less give you an offspring."

"Why you!" Kallen was about to leap at Riser for insulting Lelouch, but found herself held back.

"Don't do anything hasty." Gino chided.

Lelouch nodded, "He's right." Then he turned to Riser, "Well then, if you're so confident in a victory, why don't we have a Rating Game? If I win, I'll marry Rias, if you win, you'll marry Rias."

Riser felt a smirk form on his face from the issuing of a challenge.

Rias looked at Lelouch, "Wait, marry you?"

Lelouch stared back, "Or would you rather marry Riser?"

"Hah! I accept. I'll warn you now, I've never lost a Rating Game before, unless it was on purpose. If you still want to back out, you can." Riser warned.

"I accept those conditions." Lelouch said, with no hint of worry in his face. Britannia had never lost a war before, but that never stopped him.

Riser's grin was now ear to ear, "Since I feel sorry for you, I'll even give you ten days to train."

* * *

"Aren't I the king? Why do I have to carry this stuff?" Lelouch gasped, trying his best to carry a backpack up the mountain where Rias had offered to train him.

"You need to be in shape if you even want to think about being my husband." Rias replied.

Lelouch was ready to give up as he saw Gino, Kallen, and Raynare pass him by with backpacks three times as big. His only solace was found in the fact that Issei was struggling almost as much as he was.

"Come on you two, hurry up!" Gino yelled back happily, glad that Lelouch was struggling. He figured that he was due some sort of payback for almost being executed.

"Gino, I swear…" Lelouch began muttering obscenities as he tried to force his legs to keep moving.

By the time they reached the mountainside mansion, Lelouch was ready for a nap. As soon as he finally was allowed to drop off his backpack in his room, Lelouch collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"All right, let's get changed." Rias announced.

"Changed?" Lelouch groaned.

"Guys, I'm going to change, so please don't peek." Kiba said shyly.

"No guarantee." Gino playfully teased, flashing his famous smile.

"All right, I'm just going to take a nap." Lelouch said, trying to get to his bed.

"Not so fast Lelouch, we have to do some training today." Gino said, grabbing Lelouch and unbuttoning his shirt.

"Are these guys really dating or something?" Issei muttered to himself as he watched Gino try to pull off Lelouch's pants.

"Gino! Taking off my pants is not in your job description!" Lelouch screamed.

"Come on, I'm doing this as my knightly duty. You're like King Arthur and I'm like Lancelot." Gino replied, successfully pulling down Lelouch's fly.

"Only boyfriends would do this kind of stuff!" Lelouch replied, at this point, just trying to make sure that Gino didn't take his boxers off as well.

"Well, we're both boys and we're friends, so technically, I think we're boyfriends." Gino replied, pulling down Lelouch's pants, leaving him in just his boxers.

"These guys really are gay." Issei said to himself after witnessing the exchange.

Eventually, Gino forced Lelouch to change and meet with everyone else who was waiting outside.

"So Buchou, what are we going to do?" Issei asked in anticipation.

"Well first, Kiba and Gino will train together, seeing as they're both knights." The two blond boys shared a smile.

"Raynare, you and Issei will train with Koneko." Issei and Raynare shared nervous glances at the stone faced girl.

"Kallen, you will train with Akeno since you are both queens and Asia, you will train in magic with them as well." Akeno giggled, making Asia and Kallen uneasy.

"Finally, Lelouch will train with me since we are both kings."

Kiba and Gino were viciously sparring within minutes, all traces of friendship forgotten for the time being. Gino was falling behind the faster Kiba, who quickly disarmed him.

"Blade Breaker!" Gino's hands cried out and two golden swords appeared just in time to block Kiba's attack.

"So that's your Sacred Gear." Kiba said before moving in to attack once more.

Meanwhile, Issei and Raynare were being tossed around like rag dolls by Koneko, who somehow managed to do it all while eating an ice cream cone.

"How is she so strong?" Raynare yelled as she flew in for another attack, only to be blocked.

Koneko finished her ice cream and instantly went on the offensive, sending a powerful punch in Raynare's direction. She instinctively put her arms and to her surprise she blocked it.

Koneko's frown became almost curved up as she watched Raynare finally understand the strength of being a rook. Koneko was actually a little concerned because Raynare was much faster than most rooks and with the proper training, she would be a very dangerous piece.

Kallen and Asia were trying their best not to be intimidated by Akeno's demonstration of her lightning powers.

"Ara ara, are you scared?" She giggled.

Kallen stepped forward with resolve, "No."

Akeno smiled and launched a steam of lightning at Kallen. While she was brave before, Kallen suddenly found herself scared when lightning was actually coming at her.

"Absolute Demise!" Kallen's right arm instinctively moved on its own as a large metal claw appeared. As the lightning met the claw, the claw was able to reflect it back at Akeno, who quickly dodged out of the way.

"Ara ara, a Longinus Gear." Akeno observed as Kallen inspected the claw on her right arm. It was essentially the same in appearance as the Radiant Wave Claw, although she didn't know if it had the same destructive power yet. All she was sure of was that it could reflect magical attacks.

Lelouch was surprised to find that his training session with Rias actually turned out to be the easiest at first. First, she instructed him to watch his other pieces train so that he knew what their abilities were. She then took him to a secluded spot and drilled him on battle tactics.

After that, she took him on a run to increase his stamina, which she thought was pitiful at best.

By the time they had returned to the mansion, Lelouch was ready to collapse on his bed. However, as he did so, he could not force himself to fall asleep. He decided that getting a glass of water would be the best course of action.

As he entered the kitchen, he flicked on the lights, illuminating the pitch black room. He got himself his glass of water and gave a sigh of relief as the cool water washed over his dry throat. He took a moment to appreciate the moonlight shining into the living room and as he did, he noticed a familiar figure.

"Rias?" He called out. The figure turned its head at the noise, confirming his suspicions.

"Oh Lelouch, you're still up?"

He strolled over to her and took a seat next to her on the couch. He took a look at her face, now adorned with reading glasses. He had to admit, her face was actually kinda cute with glasses on. He turned to face the same direction as her, staring out of the window and into the moon.

"Why were you so willing to step in against Riser? That wasn't any of your concern." Rias asked.

Lelouch looked at her, not willing to tell her about the contract he had with Sirzechs.

"Well, it's my duty as a part of the Occult Research Club to protect our dear president. If I didn't I would imagine that either Issei or Kiba would have stepped up. We all care about you." Lelouch answered, deciding that would be an acceptable answer.

Rias smiled at his answer, "Thank you. I just I wish more people cared for me in that way."

"Well, I'm sure plenty of people like you. After all, why else would Riser want to marry you so badly?"

Rias' face dropped, "Riser's just like everyone else. They all love me because I'm Rias Gremory, the next head of the Gremory clan. Nobody ever likes me for just being me."

"Well, I for one like you for you." Lelouch said.

"Really?" Rias asked with a hint of hope in her voice.

Lelouch nodded, "You really are exceptional sometimes. There's no one else in the Underworld who cares about their servants like you do. Not to mention, you're one of the most beautiful women I've ever met." Lelouch chose his words carefully, trying his best to satisfy Rias.

"You really think so?" Rias asked, blushing a little.

Lelouch flashed a smile.

"Of course."

"I have something of my own to say." Rias began, blushing a little, "I feel the same way. You're the both the scariest and most mysterious man I've ever met. But for some reason, I can't help but feel attracted to you."

Before he knew it, Rias' lips were assaulting his. He felt himself get pushed back on the couch and unlike his time with Raynare, he wasn't imagining Euphie in her place. In this moment, he felt no guilt, no regret, no fear.

For the first time in a long time, he didn't think about his past. All he could think about was the crimson haired Devil who was forcing her tongue into his mouth.

* * *

**I know that the romance between Rias and Lelouch might seem rushed, but I couldn't resist at least having one of them confess their feelings for each other. Lelouch might not be feeling anything special, but in due time, he will. They're honestly pretty good with each other. Unfortunately, once Kallen finds out, it's very likely that all hell's going to break loose. I hope that this chapter was at least somewhat satisfying. The next chapter is the Rating Game against Riser Phenex and while I don't want to spoil anything, I can't wait until Lelouch lays the smackdown on him. Please leave any response in the form of a review of PM. Thanks for reading so far!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for rushing out that last chapter, but I only have a few more days that I can write a lot before school starts and I don't have as much time to write, so I'm trying to get content out because I don't know how much time I'll have going forward. I'm hoping that I'll have enough time for another chapter, but I can't make any guarantees. YoukoTaichou, yes, I should have made this more clear, but Sirzechs has altered everyone's memories slightly so that everyone remembers Lelouch, but they think that his appearance is similar to Gino's. I hope that you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 4

Lelouch could do nothing more than to collapse onto his bed after being tossed around by Koneko for a solid day. A hot shower had done absolutely nothing for his aching muscles. Every step made him feel like needles were jabbing into his legs, further reminding him of his pitiful athleticism.

"Tough day, huh?" Rias asked as she exited the shower.

"Yeah." Lelouch replied, sitting up at the sound of her voice.

"Well, I know how you're going to feel better." She said playfully.

Lelouch nodded and took off his boxers before lying down underneath the sheets. Once she finished drying herself off, Rias quickly joined him. For a moment, they lay there in silence, just enjoying the feeling of being together. Rias looked over at Lelouch, who seemed deep in thought.

"Why did you want to marry me?" She asked, curious to know why he had made that part of the challenge. While Sirzech's order did have something to do with it, Lelouch would be lying if he said that it was the only reason.

He was definitely attracted to her in all of the obvious ways. She was beautiful, powerful, and influential, not to mention that even being associated with her would help him increase his ranking in the Devil hierarchy. But there was something else that attracted him to her. Something that made him forget about Euphie when he was with her. In fact, every day that he had spent with Rias made him think less and less of his first love.

He laughed, "What? It isn't enough that you're beautiful, successful, and powerful?"

Rias smiled at his answer, "Oh stop."

"Come on, let's go to sleep." Lelouch said, reaching over her to turn off the lights.

As he lay in bed with his arm around her, he studied her face. There was something special about Rias that attracted him, but he didn't know what it was yet. Maybe it was the way that she had looked at him the first time they met. She had been the only girl who hadn't fawned over him. But there was no way he liked her only for the challenge. No, there was something else.

* * *

Lelouch's eyes snapped open as the sun invaded his eyes. He groaned and sat up, feeling incredibly spry, especially considering how sore he normally was after heavy exercise. He glanced over to his left and saw a familiar crimson haired Devil waking up next to him, remembering that she had embraced him in the nude, like she had done for the last nine days.

As Rias saw Lelouch, she slyly grinned and wrapped her arms around him, making sure to press her breasts up against his back. While she did care for Issei, it was nice to wake up next to someone who didn't get a nosebleed every time she rubbed up against him. It definitely didn't hurt that Lelouch could actually carry a conversation that didn't involve any lechery.

"Morning." She cooed.

Lelouch smiled back, "Morning."

"Are you ready?" She asked, making sure to breathe on the sensitive spot on his neck. Lelouch nodded. The day had come, regardless of whether he was ready or not.

The ten days had passed by incredibly quickly and Lelouch was now extremely confident in his pieces. Gino had begun to master his Blade Breaker, which had now evolved to be two golden master vibration swords due to the increasingly rigorous training he had been put through by Kiba.

Likewise, Kallen had begun to learn how to use her Absolute Demise, which was now able to mimic the effect of Radiant Wave technology when Kallen used magic she had learned from Akeno. Raynare had begun to learn how to utilize her speed to beat other rooks, who had high offensive and defensive capabilities, but were significantly slower than other pieces.

"Lelouch, we're ready to..." Kallen began, peeking her head in the room. She was horrified at the sight in front of her. No, disgusted was a better way to describe her current feelings. She had thought that Lelouch loved her and that he was just joking about marrying Rias, but now it looked like he was completely serious about it.

"I see I'm interrupting something." Kallen said, quickly closing the door behind her. She tried to take a deep breath to calm herself down. She couldn't afford to be distracted by something like this, especially with a Rating Game in less than 24 hours. No, she would stay strong and win for Lelouch. Whether they were lovers or not, Lelouch was her king and it was her duty to win for him.

"But why her?" Kallen whispered to herself.

Gino looked in the mirror as he began to adjust his armor. He was wearing his Knights of the Round uniform, complete with his favorite green cape. He had his uniform specially reinforced so that he would be able to withstand some attacks before he lost his defenses.

He saw a scowling Kallen enter the room. He held up her uniform, which was a Knights of the Round Uniform, only with a crimson cape instead of a green one. She snatched it out of his hands and stomped past Raynare, who was outfitted with her own Knights of the Round Uniform with a violet cape.

"Wonder what's wrong with her." Raynare said as Gino shrugged his shoulders.

"Let's just go meet Lelouch."

Said Devil was busy waiting in the living room of the mansion, outfitted in his preferred uniform, which was his Zero costume minus the mask. The thought of fighting a supposedly invincible opponent was making him excited. He had not faced a challenge like that since he began his war against Britannia.

His violet eyes darted to the staircase as his three pieces walked down the stairs. Kallen was leading the way while Raynare and Gino walked side by side behind her.

"Everyone else is back at Kuoh, we're supposed to meet in the clubhouse." Lelouch informed his team as he summoned a magic circle. Red light bathed them as they sunk into the ground and reappeared in front of the Occult Research Club.

"The time is near." Grayfia informed the group.

"Please be careful Lelouch." Rias said, pulling him into a hug, drawing jealous glares from Raynare and Kallen.

"Don't worry." Lelouch replied, hugging her back, drawing a jealous glare from Issei and a giggle from Akeno.

Grayfia cleared her throat, forcing the two apart, "Ahem, the game is going to start soon."

She created another magical circle and before their eyes, they were transported to the battlefield. When the red light died down, they found themselves standing in the same exact place that they started.

"Wait, did the magic circle not work?" Gino wondered.

Before anyone could answer, the intercom blared, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Grayfia of the Gremory Clan. I will be refereeing this match, which is being observed by Sirzechs Lucifer. Today's field has been chosen to be Kuoh Academy. Lelouch's team will use the Occult Research Club's clubhouse as its base. Riser's team will use the Student Council room. Let the game begin!"

Lelouch quickly handed everyone a small device.

"These are our communicators for the game. I will be giving my orders through them."

"So what is our first order?" Raynare asked, eager to fight.

"We need to destroy Raiser's pawns. He will want to promote them early on." Lelouch muttered as he looked over the map.

"So what do we do about that?" Gino asked, wondering what his king was thinking.

"We do have a forest surrounding the clubhouse. It would be in our best interest to utilize it." He turned to Kallen, "Do you think you could fire a long range attack with your Absolute Demise?"

"I'll need some time to charge up my magic, but yes." Kallen said, holding her arm up, "Absolute Demise!" As she called that, her right arm was quickly covered by a large metal claw.

"All right then, Q-1, hide in the forest and await further instructions." Kallen nodded and did as she was told.

"N-1, move to the gym. After I move out to the sports field, they'll be too focused on me and change their plans." Lelouch ordered, predicting that Riser would try to send all of his pieces towards the seeming exposed base.

"R-1, move to the tennis courts and wait by the wall of the gym. When I give the order, punch through the wall."

Gino and Raynare nodded and moved to their positions.

Lelouch adjusted his collar for a second before he stepped out of the clubhouse. The sky was a swirl of colors, clearly indicating that they were no longer at the real Kuoh. Trying to call upon the exercise Rias had forced him to do, Lelouch quickly ran to the sports field to make sure he got as much exposure as possible.

* * *

"Is he really that stupid to come out already?" Riser muttered as he watched from his vantage point on the roof of the Student Council room.

"All pawns, move around the sports field and get to the enemy base. There's no one protecting it!" Riser ordered.

Lelouch smirked as he watched Riser's hand motions. No doubt he had sent his pawns around the sports field to the forest. There was only one route they could take then.

"Q-1, begin charging."

* * *

Gino stood alone in the gym. He noticed movement coming from the stage and smiled.

"Come on out!" He called out.

Nine girls came out from their hiding places on the stage.

"So, Lelouch was right, all eight pawns came, along with a bishop." Gino said to himself.

"Wow, he's cute!" Two cat eared twins chirped in unison.

"Man, I really wish we didn't have to cut him up." Two green haired twins sighed as they pulled out chainsaws.

Gino merely smirked in response, "Blade Breaker!" Two golden swords appeared in his hands as he assumed a defensive stance.

At the same time, Lelouch found himself facing a bishop and a rook.

"I'm Ravel Phenex." The bishop introduced herself, "And this is Isabela."

"Phenex? Don't tell me that he would actually make his sister a part of his harem." Lelouch growled, thinking of Nunally. He was now more determined than ever to defeat Riser.

Gino gripped his swords tightly and they began to rapidly vibrate, turning to a crimson red. The chainsaw wielding twins attacked him from both sides, forcing him to use both swords to block them. Steel met steel and sparks flew as their weapons met. Distracted by this, Gino had no time to react to the wooden staff that struck him across his face.

He flew back and was instantly assaulted by a burst of flame from the bishop. Gino merely gripped his swords tighter and used his speed, becoming a blur and engaging all nine pieces at once. He quickly ducked under a chainsaw and delivered a jump kick to a girl in a maid uniform. As she began to fall back, Gino used her face as a platform and leaped off, sending her to the ground with a thud.

He sailed through the air with his swords pointed forward and began to roll in the air, almost making him a drill as he tried to cut through a chainsaw. His swords vibrated furiously, managing to cut through the chainsaw, but he was forced to retreat as he saw a wooden staff coming at him.

The cat twins attacked in unison, but Gino was too quick. He ducked under their kick and swept out their exposed legs, sending the two to the floor in a pile. He brought his swords up to block a chainsaw that was dangerously close to his face. Sparks flew back in his face as his swords began to chew through the steel blade, forcing the green haired girl to stop her attack.

Gino wiped a bead of sweat that was running down the side of his face as he looked around, realizing that he was completely surrounded.

Meanwhile Lelouch was putting up barrier after barrier to slow down Isabela's furious onslaught. He put up another seal only to have it punched through by the rook.

"How am I going to beat her?" Lelouch wondered. He couldn't use his Geass. Through his experimenting, he discovered that if his subject was focused, it was much harder to command them. It was certainly a downgrade from his original Geass in that regard. He expected that with more time, it would be stronger, but currently, he needed something to make Ravel and Isabela vulnerable before he could Geass them.

Lelouch blew Isabela off of her feet and into a wall with a powerful gust of wind. As she tried to get up, he sent an even more powerful gust of wind, slamming the rook into the wall with a crack. Quickly, he turned to Ravel, who realized that her protector was dazed. Before she could run away, Lelouch focused and summoned as many undead spirits as he could. Ravel was paralyzed in fear at the ghostly figures that were surrounding her and sending chills down her spine with every touch.

"No, please leave me alone!" She screamed, tripping and falling to the floor. She could feel their hands grabbing at her arms, trying to pull her to her feet. She screamed and tore her hand away from an icy grip. She tried to get back up, only to run into another phantom, who grabbed her wrists and forced her to look into two blank eyes.

At this point, Ravel was too scared to think. She kicked the ghost back and finding herself hopelessly surrounded, curled up in a ball, as if that would stop the hands reaching at her. Suddenly, as quickly as it started, it stopped.

"It's fine, they're gone now." A comforting voice rang out. Raynare was overcome with gratitude for her rescuer. She leapt to her feet and hugged a lean body. She looked up in the eyes of her savior only to be met by two Geass sigils.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kallen had built up a large ball of energy in her clawed hand that was about the size of a car. Her brow was soaked with sweat as she tried to contain the power that had built up, which was begging for release.

"Lelouch, I'm ready."

"Good." Came the reply.

Raynare was getting impatient when her communicator sounded.

"R-1, do your job." Raynare cracked her knuckles before she punched a hole in the wall in front of her.

"Gino! Get out!" She yelled before taking off towards the pool. Gino quickly ducked under a kick and sliced a wooden staff in half. Using his enhanced speed, Gino nodded and quickly dashed out of the hole Raynare had made.

"Hey! Get back here you coward!" Mira yelled, wanting to get revenge for the loss of her staff.

"We're out of the gym." Gino informed Lelouch.

"Q-1, fire." Lelouch ordered.

Kallen gave a relieved smile and unleashed all of the energy in one crimson blast that completely annihilated the gym.

"Take." She breathed out, having used up most of her magic.

"Eight of Riser's pawns and a bishop have been eliminated." Grayfia's voice rang out.

Raynare looked on in amusement as the gym was destroyed.

"Good job!" Gino said, ready to high five the rook when an explosion knocked him back.

"Raynare!" He screamed as the rook disappeared.

"Take." Yubelluna said with a smirk from her vantage point on the roof of the Student Council room.

"One of Lelouch's rooks has been eliminated." Grayfia's voice said from the intercom.

Gino put his finger to his ear, "Lelouch, they just took out Raynare."

He heard cursing on the other end from both Kallen and Lelouch.

"I'll have to adjust my plan then, N-1, move to the second sports field, there will be two knights and a rook waiting for you. Q-1, move to the ceiling of the clubhouse"

Gino did as he was told and unsurprisingly, Lelouch was right. Gino saw three figures waiting for him. Once he made sure that they had seen him, he turned around and ran back to the clubhouse with the knights and rook in hot pursuit.

Gino ran up to the door of the club house and pulled frantically at the door.

"We have you cornered now." Karlamine laughed, pulling out her fire covered sword.

"Well, that's up for debate." Gino said, turning around with a smile. As soon as he said that, the forest surrounding the clubhouse was suddenly up in flames.

"What's going on?" Karlamine asked, now much less confident.

Gino pointed up and reluctantly, all three looked up to see a claw coming at them. Xuelan tried to put her hands up to defend herself, forcing Kallen to adjust in mid air and land in front of the rook. Xuelan assumed a defensive position, refusing to give Kallen any opening.

Kallen lunged forward at the rook, only to be countered immediately with a hand grabbing her claw and a leg delivering a kick to her stomach, sending Kallen flying. Seizing this opportunity, Xuelan began to rush forward at Kallen, who was still airborne. She caught up to the red haired girl and was gearing up to deliver a punch.

However, this was the opening Kallen had been looking for. She latched onto the rook's now exposed torso with her claw and gave a smile as they tumbled to the floor, all the while, Kallen making sure to keep her grip.

"Take." She released a large pulse of magic that traveled through Xuelan's body.

"Ahh!" The rook managed to cry out in pain before disappearing.

Gino took this opportunity to rush forward, and before she realized what was happening, Gino had already buried his swords into Riser's knight, Siris.

"Take." He announced before pulling his swords out. In anger, Karlamine began slashing furiously at him. Gino barely had time to put his swords up in time to block her strike, which was dangerously close to cutting him in half. With her added motivation, Karlamine found herself slowly overpowering the blond knight, but in her rush to attack him, she had forgotten about Kallen, who was sprinting towards the knight's back.

The red haired queen stabbed the knight with her claw and lifted her figure up so that Karlamine was facing the sky. She fired off another pulse of magic that made the knight cry out in agony before disappearing.

Gino and Kallen gave a small sigh of relief at the success of their plan and grew out their wings to fly out of the raging fire. However, the sight that they saw as they flew up in the air made them forget all about their recent success.

"Two of Riser's knights and one of his rooks have been eliminated." Grayfia's voice announced.

* * *

Recovering from her daze, Isabela managed to pick herself up only to see Ravel holding a seemingly unconscious Lelouch.

"Ravel, how did you do it without me?" She asked, impressed by Ravel.

"I'll explain later, for now, let's get back to the Student Council room."

Isabela nodded and followed the younger girl.

Riser was fuming at the fact that not only had eight of his pawns and a bishop been eliminated, but he had lost two knights and a rook as well when his younger sister walked in with an unconscious Lelouch. At that sight, his mood immediately improved.

"Yubelluna, come look at this! He's actually been defeated by my little sister! Hah!" Riser and his queen were beside themselves with laughter when an explosion interrupted them. Riser looked up to see Isabela flying off of the roof, courtesy of a fireball from Ravel.

"One of Riser's rooks has been eliminated. Lelouch and Riser both stand with two pieces each."

"What the hell was that Ravel?" His little sister turned to Yubelluna and fired at the queen as well, barely missing. Yubelluna raised her staff to strike at Ravel when a shock coursed through her system, bringing her to her knees. A very conscious Lelouch stood over the Bomb Queen as Ravel began looking around, confused by her location.

"You know, I have a favorite saying. The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed." Lelouch spat before he focused lightning into his right hand and grabbed her throat. Before he could deal the finishing blow however, Lelouch was thrown back by a fireball.

"What is all of this?" Riser yelled, angry that the tables had been turned on him.

"This is called strategy. You might want to think about using it next time." Lelouch said with a smirk.

"Aargh!" Raiser screamed in fury as he moved to attack Lelouch, but found himself blocked by two crimson swords.

"You will not harm my king." Gino said, landing in front of Lelouch, retracting his wings, and assuming a defensive position.

"Fine, Yubelluna, destroy his knight first." Riser ordered. Yubelluna waved her wand and fired a fireball at Gino, resulting in an explosion that sent tiles flying everywhere.

"I've just destroyed your precious knight!" Riser said smugly.

"Don't be so sure." Lelouch replied.

Riser's eyes widened in surprise as the smoke cleared to reveal a red haired woman in front of Lelouch and Gino.

"Bomb Queen. I challenge you." Kallen said, raising up her claw.

"I'd like to see you try." Yubelluna chuckled. Kallen's eyes merely narrowed in anger as she gathered herself before launching forward with dizzying speed at her opponent. Yubelluna was almost caught off guard by the sudden speed at which Kallen had attacked.

Kallen slashed forward, only to be blocked by Yubelluna's staff. With the momentum from that attack, Kallen flipped up into the air before launching herself at Yubelluna again. With exceptional reflexes of her own, the Bomb Queen quickly dodged to her right and fired at Kallen, hitting her square in her chest and launching her off of the roof and into the front garden.

"Kallen!" Lelouch cried out in concern for his most valuable piece.

"Don't worry, I won't allow myself to lose to the likes of her." Kallen said, picking herself up from the ground as Yubelluna hovered down in front of her. Kallen prepared herself for another attack but couldn't move fast enough to dodge another explosion.

"Kallen!" Gino cried out moving to help his ex girlfriend. Ravel moved quickly and blocked him with a wall of flame.

"You can't interfere in this battle." She told him. Gino merely turned to attack her, only to be met by more flames.

Kallen's body was still reeling from the force at which the explosion had hit her. She couldn't stop the ringing in her ears and her head was spinning. Her legs felt like jelly and all she wanted to do right now was lie down.

"No, I can't give up." Kallen growled, forcing herself to her feet. She lifted up her right arm again.

"Absolute Demise!" She cried out, forcing the crystal to respond with, "Absolute Demise Second Liberation!" The claw instantly covered more of her arm, now covering her right arm in red armor and Kallen suddenly could feel more energy coursing through her body.

"That's not going to do you any good." Yubelluna said as she strode towards Kallen. She raised her staff up and sent another fireball at the red haired queen, who countered with a disk of crimson energy. The two attacks met in an explosion, covering the front garden in smoke.

Yubelluna was about to fly out of the smoke for a better vantage point when she felt a claw grasp her right leg.

"Oh no you don't!" Kallen screamed as she pulled her opponent back down to the ground. Yubelluna held up her wand to attack again, but Kallen reacted faster and captured the staff in her claw, destroying it with a short burst of magic. Before Yubelluna could reach for her small vial of tears of the Phoenix, Kallen slammed her claw into Yubelluna's face, forcing the Bomb Queen to look straight down the small hole in the claw where Kallen was busy charging up magic. Her eyes widened as she saw the small crimson ball of magic building up inches from her face.

"Take."

With a smile, Kallen released all of the magic she had been charging up straight into Yubelluna's face.

"Riser's queen has been eliminated. He now stands at one piece compared to Lelouch's two pieces." Grayfia's voice rang out, revealing to the spectators the result in the smoke.

* * *

"There's no way I'm losing to this guy!" Riser yelled, releasing wings of fire. Ravel did the same, leaving herself open for just a second. Using his speed, Gino quickly rushed forward and stabbed at Ravel, hitting her square in the chest. His vibration swords quickly chewed through her ribs and exited on the other side of her body.

Following Lelouch's earlier suggestion, Gino began to run it up and down the length of her body, causing her to scream in agony each time he cut through another organ. Although it pained him to do that to such an innocent girl, orders were orders.

Although Ravel could heal herself, she was still experiencing incredible pain.

"Ravel!" Riser yelled, moving to help his sister. Before he could reach her however, an icicle took away half of his head. He turned around in anger to see Lelouch already firing another icicle, this time at his chest. Lelouch smiled as Riser blocked his attack, completely forgetting about his rear, where Kallen had appeared. She screamed in fury and lodged her claw into his back before firing a burst of magic, leaving a hole where his chest was.

"Please big brother, we have to give up ahhh!" Ravel screamed as Gino cut through her intestines.

"I believe this is what you call check." Lelouch said with a grin as Kallen continued to fire magic through Riser's chest, preventing him from healing it.

"Ahh!" Ravel screamed as Gino cut through her newly healed chest.

Lelouch, remembering his lessons with Akeno, walked up to Riser and placed his hands around his head. Riser looked back in defiance before his face contorted to an expression of pain as he felt electricity paralyze his body in pain.

"Give up yet?" Lelouch asked.

"Never." Riser managed, despite the enormous amount of pain he was feeling.

"Fine, I'll increase the voltage." Lelouch shrugged his shoulders and renewed his attack, forcing Riser to grind his teeth to keep himself from screaming.

"You know, seeing as I'm a Super Devil, I think that it's fair to warn you that I'm only using a fraction of my strength." Lelouch said.

"Nice bluff." Riser spat.

"I did warn you." Lelouch sighed as he began to use his actual power.

Riser was only expecting a small increase in pain, but he was caught off guard by the exponential increase in strength Lelouch had just undergone.

"Ahh!" Riser screamed out in pain. His arms and legs were completely numb, not that he would have been able to register it given that his head felt like it was splitting in half. He was barely able to heal himself, but every time that he did, he only gave Lelouch more body parts to inflict pain on.

Lelouch smiled. Riser was completely vulnerable now and his Geass actually stood a fair chance of working.

"Riser, give up." If Riser was not under the constant bombardment of pain, his focus would have been easily too much for the Geass to overcome. But in the state that he was currently in, Riser had no way to resist the command.

His eyes became rimmed with red and he slumped over, "I give up."

Lelouch let go of his head and Kallen removed her claw.

"I believe this is checkmate."

Upon hearing those words, Gino removed his swords from Ravel, finally freeing her from pain.

"Thank you." She managed before she passed out.

Lelouch stepped back and took a seat, completely exhausted. Gino wiped away more sweat and joined him, patting him on the back.

"Looks like he wasn't all that invincible." Kallen said as she sat next to Lelouch, looking up at the swirling colors in the sky.

"Riser Phenex has surrendered. Lelouch Murmur is declared the winner of this Rating Game." Grayfia announced, bringing a smile to their faces.

* * *

"Congratulations Lelouch! I knew you had it within you!" Sirzechs exclaimed as soon as Lelouch entered the viewing room with Kallen and Gino, who had an unconscious Raynare in his arms, following closely behind.

"Lelouch!" Rias exclaimed before she assaulted him in a hug from his back, drawing an annoyed look from Kallen.

"Ara ara, you caused a lot of damage." Akeno giggled.

"There was no other way to beat Riser." Lelouch responded.

"Ara ara, does the sexual beast need to deal out more damage?" Akeno asked seductively, pressing her breasts up against his chest. Watching him deal out so much damage had made her way too excited to hold back.

Lelouch inwardly cringed at Akeno's belief that he was a sexual beast, but the way she was rubbing up against him made him too excited to worry too much about it. After all, he was still a teenager and Akeno was almost as attractive as Rias.

"Is this something close people are supposed to do?" Asia asked, rubbing up against Issei, who was inwardly debating whether he should be protecting Asia's innocence or not, the same way.

"Lelouch is _my_ fiancé, you know." Rias said protectively, emphasizing the "my."

"That reminds me! I almost forgot to congratulate you on that," Sirzechs said, pushing Rias out of the way so he could place his right arm around Lelouch, "Brother."

Lelouch had noticed that Sirzechs was much friendlier once the prospect of his marriage to Rias became more and more likely.

"Sorry, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to get married so quickly. If you don't mind, I'd really like to spend some more time with Rias before we're married." Lelouch said sheepishly, drawing a shocked look from Rias and a relieved sigh from both Kallen and Akeno.

"Still, you'll have to have an engagement party, right?" Sirzechs asked.

Looking at the hopeful expression on Sirzechs' face, Lelouch sighed, "Yes."

Sirzechs broke out in a smile, "Grayfia, let's go! We have an engagement party to plan!"

"Okay, calm down. You don't want the other Satans to see you like this." Grayfia gently scolded.

"I'll summon you within the week, _brother_." Sirzechs promised, emphasizing the last word before he and Grayfia summoned a magical circle.

Lelouch nodded slowly. He was going to be in for a busy week.

* * *

**I hope the Rating Game with Riser Phenex was okay. I know that Lelouch didn't have that one ridiculous move where he destroyed all of Riser's pieces in move, but he still managed to beat him pretty soundly. I'm also not sure what Sirzech's personality is like since we didn't see much of him in the anime, but I feel like he does care about his sister and wants to see her happy and that he's a lot friendlier with his family members.**

**As of right now, due to popular demand, I think I'm going to add C.C. to his peerage, probably as a bishop. But, I'm wondering if you guys think that Jeremiah should be Lelouch's other rook, or do you guys have someone else in mind? Personally, I love Jeremiah and I think he would be an awesome rook, but what do you guys think? Please leave a response, either in the form of a PM or a review. I would really appreciate any and all feedback! **


	5. Chapter 5

**As with Chapter 3, I've revised this chapter, cutting out the worst scenes (by worst scenes I mean the threesome) that were just unnecessary and adding only a little, since that wasn't the problem. However, I do want to clear something up. Chaos0205, they haven't had an official wedding yet. They're only getting engaged, which means that they still have time to decide whether they are getting married or not.**

**Also, you guys have convinced me that I need a beta reader, so if anyone would tell me how to get one, or if anyone would want to volunteer to be one, please PM me. I just hope that this chapter has improved.**

**This chapter might be a little short and pointless, but it's basically the conclusion of the Riser arc and starting from Chapter 6, the next arc is going to start. thank you to everyone who's reviewed this story so far. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I definitely did, if only for the fact that Orange is joining Lelouch's peerage. I know that his choice to join might seem abrupt, but I think that Jeremiah's loyal enough so that he would just join up.**

* * *

Chapter 5

Lelouch was never an outdoors guy, but he still found himself wandering aimlessly along a dirt road in the countryside. Gino was happily following his order to keep Kallen occupied any way he could. Raynare was still at the castle recovering from her wounds so she could attend the engagement party tonight, and Rias had been roped into helping plan the engagement party by Sirzechs.

For once, he had a moment of peace. Lelouch took a deep breath, inhaling the citrus scent that was thick in the air. He looked over at the endless fields that lined both sides of the road. For as far as the eye could see, there were orange trees.

"Orange." Lelouch chuckled a little as he remembered the Orange incident that he had started. He sighed, loyalty like Jeremiah's was not easy to come by.

"You called me?" Lelouch's entire body froze at the voice. He turned to find himself face to face with none other than Jeremiah Gottwald. He was now dressed with a white work shirt and blue jeans and ironically, had a basket of oranges in his right hand.

"Jeremiah!" Lelouch exclaimed.

"Do I know you?" He asked with a confused expression.

"It's me, Lelouch!"

Suddenly, he felt a tight grip around his throat. In a flash, Jeremiah had his left hand around Lelouch's throat.

"Don't you dare joke around with his majesty's name! He's done more for the world than you could ever imagine. He sacrificed himself for the common good!"

Although he was flattered by what Jeremiah thought, he still had to restore Jeremiah's memories unless he wanted to be strangled.

"Jeremiah, remember!" Lelouch ordered. Although he knew full well that Jeremiah still had his Geass canceller, he didn't expect him to use it for something that didn't pose a threat to him.

Jeremiah's eye became rimmed with red as his true memories came rushing back to him. As they did, the oranges fell to the ground and Jeremiah found himself kneeling before Lelouch, who was rubbing his neck.

"Your majesty? But how?" Jeremiah had been in on the plan, so he knew there was no way that Lelouch was supposed to survive.

Lelouch thought for a moment, but decided that Jeremiah could be trusted with the truth, "I have been reincarnated as a Devil."

"I see. I should have expected as much. After all, you planned to die back there."

Lelouch was surprised, "Wait, you're not alarmed at all by this?"

Jeremiah chuckled, "Trust me, the Geass Order has some dark secrets."

Nodding, Lelouch looked at the field that Jeremiah had come from, "What are you doing here?"

Jeremiah smiled, picking up his basket and whatever oranges were not ruined, "I'm growing oranges. After all, orange is the name of my loyalty."

Lelouch smiled, "Jeremiah, your loyalty truly knows no bounds."

Jeremiah put down his basket and kneeled before Lelouch once again.

"Then please, let me join you, your majesty."

"No, I cannot take you away from your new life." Lelouch shook his head.

"It is my duty to serve you, Lord Lelouch. As long as you are alive, I will serve you."

"Very well, lie down." Lelouch summoned a magical circle and fished out a rook, placing it on his chest.

"I command thee, Jeremiah Gottwald, on my name, Lelouch Murmur, become my servant and once more return thy soul to this land and become a Devil. Thou shall now live a new life with great joy as my rook!"

The circle shone red and the rook implanted itself within Jeremiah's human half. Almost immediately after the light died down, Jeremiah sat up.

"That was a fast recovery, although I guess I should have expected it from a cyborg."

"So, my lord, what are your orders?" Jeremiah asked.

Lelouch chuckled, "First, we need to buy you a suit. We'd better hurry too, otherwise we'll be late for my engagement party."

Jeremiah's lips curled into a smile, "I had no idea that you were getting married, your majesty."

"Anya!" He called out to the former Knight of Six, "I'm going to be gone for a while, so I'll need you to take care of the farm!"

The pink haired girl nodded and wordlessly went back to picking oranges.

* * *

Although the party had not started yet, Lelouch had to arrive early to get dressed. He strode into the dressing room, closely followed by Jeremiah, who was dressed in a black tuxedo with an orange bow tie.

"Orange?" Kallen asked, not sure if she was seeing correctly, "What are you doing here?"

"I have been reincarnated as a Devil to serve Lord Lelouch." He explained to a confused Kallen and Raynare.

"There you are, Lelouch!" Gino said, taking off Lelouch's jacket, "Look, if you don't mind, we'll need some privacy." He informed the others.

Kallen and Raynare obliged while Jeremiah merely went to stand guard by the door.

"Gino, you don't need to do this, I can get dressed by myself." Lelouch said, annoyed at his knight's behavior. He looked to Jeremiah, but he found no help there.

"I'm sorry, but I'm just so excited that you're getting married!" Gino exclaimed, happy that Lelouch was going to be engaged to Rias and not to Kallen. As far as he was concerned now, he and Lelouch were best friends.

"This is just an engagement party, I don't plan on getting married until I at least finish school." Lelouch replied, as Gino slipped him into a dress shirt.

"But still, you're making a promise to Rias that you're going to marry her! I won't let you go out there and make a fool of yourself. I promise as your knight!" Gino said, pulling Lelouch's tie into a Windsor knot.

"Again, knights don't have to dress their kings." Lelouch sighed, knowing that Gino was going to ignore him.

"Just look in the mirror!" Gino said, spinning Lelouch around. He was dressed in a simple black tuxedo with a white pleated dress shirt and a violet bow tie. Gino sported the same attire only with his favorite forest green bow tie. Lelouch had to admit, Gino did dress him up pretty well, although he was sure that he could have achieved the same look without his knight's help.

"I'm going to go out there and enjoy the party." Gino said, happily going off to talk to Kallen again.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you, your majesty." Jeremiah said with a bow.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rias was having the same problem with Akeno.

"Please, I can dress myself." Rias complained as Akeno zipped up her dress.

"Ara ara, for a sexual beast like Lelouch, you can't take any chances." Akeno replied, finished with her work. Rias turned to look in a mirror and gasped at what she saw. Akeno had forced her into an extremely form fitting red silk dress that left very little to the imagination.

"Sirzechs is not going to like this." Rias muttered.

"Ara ara, let's go impress Lelouch!" Akeno said, pushing Rias through the door and into the room where Lelouch was waiting.

The moment she walked in, Lelouch was speechless. For a Devil, she looked, angelic. Lelouch winced as he thought that, briefly forgetting that he could no longer think about those things.

"You look nice." Lelouch managed, trying to keep his mind clear of dirty thoughts as he admired Rias' dress. He offered his arm to her and she looped her arm through his.

"Well, are you ready, my lord?" Jeremiah asked, standing by the door. Lelouch gulped and nodded. Jeremiah opened the giant wooden doors and waited for Lelouch and Rias to exit before closely following.

Lelouch was taken aback by the large hall he was greeted with. He could see hundreds of high ranking devils all turn their head to him as he exited the doors, the room growing silent as they took in the couple.

Still, despite the large number of high ranking Devils, Lelouch found himself confident in front of the crowd in front of him, "Well, I'd like to thank everyone who came today. The reason all of you have come here is because I, Lelouch Murmur, am getting engaged today to Rias Gremory."

As soon as he finished, enthusiastic clapping came from the back of the hall. A few heads turned to see Sirzechs clapping loudly while an embarrassed Grayfia tried to disassociate herself with him. Polite clapping began erupting from most of the crowd.

"I'm so proud of him!" Gino exclaimed, dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief. Lelouch's and Rias' respective peerages were all assembled at the front of the hall, where they were the closest people to Lelouch and Rias.

Kiba smiled, "You act like you're his dad or something." He was always thoroughly entertained by the fellow blond haired pretty boy.

"Ara ara, it looks like Lelouch is ready to take her tonight." Akeno said, observing Lelouch's pants, which were slightly tighter than usual.

"I can't let anyone take my Buchou's virginity, even if he is the Harem God!" Issei exclaimed before being held back by Asia.

Likewise, Raynare and Kallen were about to go after Rias when they remembered that Sirzechs was present and probably wouldn't take kindly to someone ruining his sister's engagement party. Not to mention the fact that Jeremiah was back and he was trailing Lelouch.

Koneko merely observed the scene in silence, enjoying an orange soda. Truthfully, she was happy that the two were getting married. She didn't want to ever face off against Lelouch, who was the only person she was legitimately concerned about fighting besides Sirzechs.

Lelouch and Rias were being quizzed by a group of older Devils about their wedding plans when a middle aged man with crimson hair and a woman who looked exactly like Rias, albeit with brown hair, walked up to the two.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, future son in law!" The woman exclaimed.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Gremory, it's an honor to meet you." Lelouch said.

"My, what a polite young man, not like that Riser. Not to mention, he's quite strapping." Lady Gremory observed, clearly checking Lelouch out.

"Mother, he's my fiancé, not yours." Rias said, holding on to Lelouch tighter than before.

"You know, you don't have to save yourself for your marriage. We'd happily welcome grandchildren anytime! The Gremory Clan can never have too many members." Lord Gremory told Lelouch, gesturing towards a blushing Rias.

"That's nice to know." Lelouch managed.

"Hey, brother!" Sirzechs said from behind, leaning on Lelouch's shoulder. He looked over at Rias and his eyes widened.

"So, are you planning to have your way with Lelouch tonight or something?" Sirzechs asked his sister, observing her dress.

"No!" Rias stammered, clearly embarrassed.

* * *

"I can't believe that Lelouch is getting married!" Raynare moaned. When she had told him to forget about Euphemia, she expected him to fall in love with her, not Rias! Even though Lelouch had never explicitly said it, she had always assumed that they were dating.

"Join the club." Kallen said bitterly. She was in love with Lelouch, couldn't he see that? Everything she had done for him, it was out of love.

She had even put up with him screwing half of the Britannian military because she thought that he would eventually come to his senses and figure out what he wanted. To think, she had given him her virginity and now he was marrying someone else. She never should have let Kaguya talk her into it in the first place. And now, she had become a Devil to be close to him.

"Do you two have a problem with what His Majesty is doing?" Jeremiah asked, extending his blade.

"Of course not! Whatever gave you that idea?" Kallen laughed. But inside, she knew that she had to talk to Lelouch about this eventually. Preferably when Jeremiah was not around.

* * *

"Hm, if brother had won that Rating Game, we'd be at his engagement party." Ravel said with a huff from her corner in the hall. Although Rias had insisted on not inviting Riser, she had no problem with Ravel attending the engagement party.

From across the room, Gino noticed the peeved blond haired girl, and immediately felt bad about what he had done to her in the Rating Game. He decided to suck up his pride and to go and apologize, as any knight should to do someone he wronged.

Although she was still in a sour mood from the loss, Ravel's spirits were immediately lifted as she saw an dashing blond make his way towards her. She quickly glanced around to make sure that he wasn't heading towards anyone else just as he approached her.

She felt her pulse quicken as he stood in front of her and took her hand. He really was a handsome man.

"I'm so sorry my lady." Gino said as he bowed, allowing his braids to fall down his shoulder.

Suddenly, Ravel remembered who he was.

"Wait a second, you're that knight!" She said, snapping her hand away, all attraction forgotten.

He nodded and with a hint of sadness he bowed again, "I hope you can forgive me for what I did."

"I don't know. You really hurt me back there." She said, turning away from him. Gino, not being one to abandon his goals, forged onwards.

"Let me make it up to you." Gino said, pulling out the saddest face he could muster. Ravel turned around slightly to see Gino with practically tears in his eyes as he stared apologetically back at her.

Powerless to resist such a sad face, Ravel gave up.

"Okay, I'll let you make it up to me," She groaned, drawing an immediate smile from Gino, who kneeled down to hug her.

"You truly are kind, my lady." He murmured in her ear.

"Well, thank you." Ravel replied, trying to force him off of her. She got the impression that he was really touchy feely.

"Oh no, I almost forgot to do my job!" Gino cried out as he let go of Ravel and immediately dashed off. She sighed. How that blond idiot had managed to beat her was a mystery.

Just then, Sirzechs' voice rang out.

"Well, I know that the night's still young, but I'm sure that Lelouch and Rias are just itching to get to the bedroom." Sirzechs announced, winking at a horrified Lelouch, "So we're going to let the lovebirds retire for the night."

Before Lelouch could respond, he and Rias were quickly ushered out of the hall by Gino and Jeremiah and straight to the master bedroom.

* * *

As Sirzechs said that, Kallen felt her heart drop even more, if that was possible. Now Lelouch and Rias were actually going to have sex. The wedding seemed more and more of a real possibility.

"Kallen!" Gino said, noticing how down she was and intending to cheer her up.

"Don't bother me right now." Kallen replied coldly, pushing past him.

Gino sighed. It seemed like no matter what he did, Kallen was never going to see him in the same light as Lelouch. She was stuck in the past, and didn't want to think of a new future. One that included him. He was probably going to have another sleepless night again, for the first time in weeks.

* * *

Gino's eyes snapped open as his alarm went off. He reached around for the alarm clock, finally shutting it off. Remembering his promise to Ravel, he immediately bounced out of bed and began dressing himself.

Gino picked up his cell phone and closed the door behind him. His brow furrowed in confusion as he realized he had no idea where to go. Most of the guests, including Ravel, had stayed in guest bedrooms last night, but he still had no idea where they actually were. He began wandering the halls of Sirzech's massive castle. How one man could use so many rooms was beyond him.

By some miraculous stroke of luck, Gino managed to spot Ravel just as she exited her bedroom. A half asleep Ravel had not even closed her door when she was assaulted by an energetic blur of blond hair.

"I'm so glad I found you! I was scared that I was going to get lost!"

"Get off of me!" Ravel said, kicking him off of her, "Is not touching other people a problem for you?"

"I'm sorry, my lady." She began dusting off her blue dress and made sure that her curls were still in place.

Ravel could tell by his voice that he was being sincere, so she decided to go easy on him.

"It's fine. I'm just not awake yet. And also, call me Ravel."

"Okay, Ravel." Gino said with a smile.

"So, what were you planning to do today?" Ravel asked, already regretting her decision last night.

"Well, I thought that it would be really cool if we hung out like regular people do!"

"How is that supposed to be fun?" Ravel asked, the disdain clear in her voice.

"Haven't you ever wondered what regular people do for fun?"

The hopeful expression on Gino's face made Ravel powerless once more, "Okay, I guess it couldn't hurt."

"Great!" Gino said, hugging Ravel, only to be hit with a fireball.

"Don't touch me." She said, making a magical circle. Gino quickly got to his feet and jumped inside before Ravel began the incantation to take them to the human world.

Gino's eyes widened as they found themselves in the middle of a large crowd.

"Wow! You know, I've never actually had time to hang out among regular people." Gino exclaimed, fascinated by everything around him.

"Let's get this over with." Ravel groaned.

"Let's go get some ice cream first! Suzaku used to tell me about the great ice cream shop around here. We were going to go during the break." As he said that, his face suddenly dropped.

"Is everything all right?" Ravel asked, concerned about the sudden change in emotion Gino had just undergone.

"No! everything's fine!" Gino replied, flashing his famous smile. Ravel looked at him for a second, but before she could ask him, she was being dragged through the crowd by Gino.

"Why are you holding my hand? People are staring!" Ravel asked as Gino continued to force his way to his destination. She was right. The fact that the Knight of Two was holding the hand of a fifteen year old was not going unnoticed by the crowd.

"Well, we might get separated if we're not holding hands, and you could get lost. As your friend, I won't let you get lost!" Gino explained, suddenly stopping.

"Friend, huh?" Ravel said to herself, softly enough so that Gino couldn't hear.

"Well, we're here!" Gino said, stopping in front of a small ice cream shop.

Ravel looked at the place with little interest. It didn't look spectacular in the least. But there was something about it that was making Gino giddy with excitement, so she decided to go along with it.

As the two walked out with their ice cream cones, Gino's eyes widened once more.

"Hey, a movie theatre! Can we go inside? Please?"

Ravel sighed, "Sure, you were supposed to be the one taking me around anyways."

As soon as she said that, she found herself being dragged along once more, almost dropping her cone.

"Hm, what kind of movie do you want to watch? Oh, how about a comedy?" Gino asked as he looked over the movie times and titles. Before she could respond, Gino had already bought the tickets.

The movie itself was not very good, but it was funny enough to get a few laughs out of Ravel. Gino smiled as she laughed. It brought a smile to his face just watching her enjoy herself.

Ravel noticed the blond haired man staring at her and quickly put on a stoic expression. She definitely didn't want him to think that she was ready to forgive him for anything.

As they walked out of the theatre, Gino's head was on a swivel.

"An arcade!" He exclaimed, dragging Ravel along with him.

The inside of the arcade was much like the outside, with lots of colorful flashing lights and loud music.

"Oh! Let's try this fighting game! I've got to be pretty good at this." Gino said, taking out some money from his pocket.

"Sure, whatever." Ravel said disinterestedly, placing her right hand on the joystick and hovering her left hand over the buttons. The game itself was a Knightmare fighting game. Gino, being Gino, chose the Tristan Divider while Ravel chose the Lancelot Albion, not noticing how Gino flinched as she selected it.

As they began, Ravel began slashing away at Gino, who made no move to attack, and instead, only tried to dodge. Once Ravel had cornered him however, he made no move to dodge the attacks from the Lancelot, quickly losing the round.

Ravel decided to switch to the Galahad and immediately, Gino began to attack her. But she was still better than him at the game and easily dodged him before attacking with Excalibur.

After beating him handedly a few times, Ravel was starting to enjoy herself.

"You could've let me beat you at least once." Gino pouted as they decided to go look around for another game.

"Well, you could've let up on me in the Rating Game." Ravel retorted, shutting Gino up. After all, she was in the right here.

Gino noticed that Ravel had suddenly stopped in her tracks and followed her line of vision to a crane game.

"So, you want a stuffed animal?" Gino asked, causing Ravel nod her head, embarrassed. He grabbed her hand and led her to the machine.

"No problem! I have to be good at this game." Gino said confidently, putting in some money. He delicately moved the stick so that he would have the perfect angle. He pressed the button and watched intently as the crane lowered slowly and found its target. He flinched as the crane seemed to lose its grip for a second before pulling the stuffed animal up in the air.

"Come on, almost there." He muttered as the crane approached the drop hatch. He gave a sigh of relief as the crane stopped and released the prize.

Gino grinned as he held up the stuffed phoenix and handed it to Ravel, who blushed as she received it, "I told you I could get it. I'm the Knight of Two for a reason!"

"Thank you." She managed, hugging the stuffed animal close to her chest.

Gino looked outside of the arcade to find that it was already pitch black.

"Well, it looks like we need to get going." He said, leading Ravel outside. Instantly, the two were assaulted by cold air. Noticing the shivering girl beside him, Gino took off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders. Although he was cold himself, he knew that was the gentlemanly thing to do.

The crowd had already dissipated a few hours ago, leaving the two as the only ones on the sidewalk.

"No one's around, are we going to summon the magical circle now?" Ravel asked.

"Let's just enjoy the sights for a little while." Gino replied, looking over the colorful lights that clashed with the blackness of the night sky.

The two walked in silence for a little while, just taking in the sights.

"Say, what happened earlier?" Ravel asked.

Gino stopped with a confused look on his face, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, when you were talking about the ice cream place, why did you look so sad?"

She could see Gino hesitate as he tried to speak. It was clear that whatever he was thinking about earlier wasn't out of his mind.

"It's my friend, Suzaku. He was my best friend, but he died when his Knightmare exploded." He sighed as they reached the edge of the city.

"Suzaku Kururugi? Isn't he the Knight who fired the FLEIJA?" Ravel asked, reminded of the news from the human world.

Gino nodded as they stopped in front of some railing. They were overlooking the large crater that the FLEIJA had left behind during the battle in Tokyo. Gino had tried to stay away because the sight always reminded him of Suzaku, but it was as if some magnetic force was drawing him towards the crater.

"He killed so many people, yet, when he died, his death meant more to me than all of those lives. We were best friends. And despite that, I helped his killer get away." He said, letting himself lean on the railing and pointing his eyes to the ground.

"I don't think I can ever forgive myself for loving Kallen. After all, she killed my best friend. But still, I can't stay away from her. I don't know why. I should want revenge for Suzaku, but all I can think of is marrying his killer. He's probably rolling over in his grave right now because of me."

Ravel looked at the blonds' now serious face. She had no idea that any of these things had happened to him, or that he actually had those kinds of feelings hidden away. She had always assumed that he was some hyperactive blond pretty boy, not a war veteran riddled with guilt.

Gino gave his trademark smile and looked up at Ravel, "But now I'm just boring you! Come on, let's go get something to eat before we go home."

Gino grabbed her left hand without any resistance and they began walking back towards the city. With her right hand, which was still holding the phoenix, Ravel wrapped Gino's jacket closer to herself as another cool breeze blew into their faces.

"So, am I forgiven yet?" Gino asked.

"Well, I'm not sure if I forgive you yet, but you're on the right path." Ravel replied.

As they passed by a Pizza Hut, Gino noticed something going on inside the restaurant.

"What's going on?" Ravel asked, looking inside.

Gino's eyes widened as he took in the scene, "I have to call Lelouch right now."

* * *

**First things first, I'm letting you guys know that the updates will start slowing down and they'll start to pick back up in winter because school starts for me soon, and with that comes homework, work on the play, and volleyball. If I don't update for a few weeks, don't take that as a sign that I've stopped, because it means that I'm busy with one of the three things I listed above. Okay, on the main author's note.**

**I'm pretty sure you guys know what's happening next. Chaos0205 makes an interesting point. If C.C. is immortal, can she be reincarnated as a Devil? If not, she'll still be a part of Lelouch's harem, just not a part of his peerage. Also, I'm just wondering about what you guys think about a Ravel and Gino pairing? At this point, Ravel sort of has a little crush on Gino since he has that effect on most girls, but Gino only sees her as a friend. Since a Kallen and Gino pairing is out of the question, I'm leaning towards this, even if they have an age difference. I think that this has the potential to be a good pairing. Other than that, if you guys have any ideas or thoughts, either leave them in a review or PM me.**

**Again, anyone who can tell me about where to get a beta reader or would like to be one, please PM me.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I apologize for the horrendous chapter last week. Hopefully, you guys will enjoy this chapter more, although I do have to apologize beforehand because this chapter is a little short. Thank you to CrazySasori, who helped me even more this week. I really appreciate all of the help. This is the start of a new arc in the story, one that has not been covered by the anime yet. I've only read through Volume 3 so far, so I apologize if not everything is correct according to the light novels. I sincerely hope that you guys enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 6

"Get off of me! That's a legitimate credit card!" C.C. yelled as two policemen tried to handcuff her. As one was just about to handcuff her, C.C. quickly swung her head back, hitting him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground in agony. In response, the other policeman tackled her to the floor and secured her while his partner got back to his feet.

"Somehow I seriously doubt that you are 'Lelouch Lamperouge.'" The manager replied, checking the ID that C.C. had provided. Obviously, he could tell that the green haired girl that was being arrested looked nothing like the blond man whose picture was on the ID.

Gino quickly dialed Lelouch's number as C.C. was being led to a squad car by the policeman who was trying to stop his nosebleed. It took Lelouch two rings to pick up.

"Lelouch, get down to the jail in Tokyo. I think you'll want to see this." He said, snapping his phone shut. Remembering why he was standing in front of a Pizza Hut in the first place, he turned to Ravel.

"Sorry that today ended like this." Gino apologized.

"It's fine. Do you know that woman or something?" Ravel asked.

Gino nodded, "She used to work with Lelouch. I've never really talked to her before though."

"Watch out, this could be a weapon." A policeman said, carefully picking up Cheese-kun.

* * *

Lelouch's eyes widened as he took in the sight of C.C. in a jail cell. She was dressed once again in her old white outfit. He couldn't help but be reminded of the first time that they had met as he took in the sight of her sprawled out on the floor of the cell, staring at the ceiling.

As he approached the cell, golden eyes darted to his figure, "Hello, Lelouch."

"How do you recognize me?" Lelouch asked, surprised at her reaction.

C.C. pointed to her forehead.

"I can't be Geassed like everyone else, remember?" Lelouch was a little shocked at the comment. From what he had heard from Jeremiah and C.C. it definitely seemed like there was a connection between Devils and the Geass Order.

"Fair enough. So, how exactly did this happen?" Lelouch sighed, not believing his eyes.

C.C. lifted herself off of the ground, shifting to a seated position, "Well, I tried to give them an ID to pay for my pizza, but apparently, I don't look like a 'Lelouch Lamperouge,' so they attempted to arrest me for identity theft."

"Of course you don't look like me." Lelouch groaned, but C.C. completely ignored him.

"They were being a little rough so I might have punched out a few policemen, but other than that, nothing too serious."

Somehow, he wasn't surprised, "All right. I'll bail you out."

* * *

"So where do you live?" Lelouch asked as he finished filling out the paperwork to pay C.C.'s bail.

"Nowhere, I mostly wander Japan, looking for the best pizza." C.C. replied, collecting her Cheese-kun doll from the evidence department.

"Do you need somewhere to stay? I do own a castle."

"Hm." C.C. thought about it for a moment, "Does Pizza Hut deliver there?"

"I can't answer that. I've never tried."

C.C. didn't respond and the two merely began walking in silence, until C.C. decided to speak up.

"So, Lelouch, is it safe to assume that something happened to you after you died?" C.C. asked as Lelouch opened the door, exiting the police station.

"Yes, I was reincarnated as a Devil." Lelouch replied.

"All right, then I'll come with you." C.C. announced.

"Wait, you are?"

C.C. had a confused look, "You were the one who offered."

Lelouch smiled sheepishly, "Right, I did." He took them down an abandoned alley and began his incantation.

"Hm, I've seen better castles." C.C. observed as the light died down.

"If I want a larger castle, I'll have to move up in society." Lelouch replied, leading C.C. to his bedroom. As he opened the door, he saw a sleeping Raynare and tried to talk softly.

"Given that I only have one bed, I think you'll just have to share with Raynare and me."

"Oh, so are you trying to start a new harem?" C.C. asked, plopping herself onto the bed.

"What? No! I have a fiancé, it wouldn't be right." Lelouch said.

"Oh, you're engaged? I never thought that you were that kind of man."

They were interrupted by a knock on their door.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"Rias." Came the reply.

"Rias? What does she want?" Lelouch said to himself as he opened his door to reveal his fiancé.

"Do you want to explain to me why you suddenly ran off earlier?" Rias asked in a demanding tone.

"Oh, about that." Lelouch began.

"He picked me up." C.C. said from over his shoulder.

"What did you say?"

"No! Rias, it's not like that!" Lelouch said hurriedly.

"It is like that." C.C. said in a monotone voice.

Lelouch quickly whipped around, "Why would you say that?"

"So Lelouch, do you want to tell me the truth?" Rias said suspiciously.

He sighed, there was no way to escape it.

"I made a contract with her to gain my power of Geass and she's been helping me ever since. Now she needs a place to stay, and I offered to let her stay here." Rias nodded slowly, accepting his explanation but still determined to keep an eye on C.C.

"Well then, I came to tell you some good news. I'm coming to stay with you!" Rias said happily.

"Wait, why?"

"Don't most engaged people live together?" Rais asked, pushing past Lelouch.

"I suppose. But isn't this a little sudden?" Lelouch replied as Rias began unbuttoning her top. Although he had seen Rias naked before, her lack of decency was still astounding sometimes.

"You know I can't sleep unless I'm naked." Rias replied, unhooking her bra, subtly trying to overshadow the other girls.

"Well, maybe this sleeping arrangement won't be that bad." Lelouch whispered to himself, appreciating the view.

* * *

"Lelouch! You have to get up!" Leluoch groaned as he heard his fiancé yell at him to get out of bed. Since their engagement was announced, Rias joined him, C.C. and Raynare in the castle. He had to regularly sit through fights, mostly between Raynare and Rias, although C.C. never missed a chance to cause trouble, even at school, where she had joined Lelouch's class.

He had to admit, sometimes it was hard to sleep with the tension between the girls, but it's not like he was expecting Raynare to take to Rias exceptionally well. At least C.C. wasn't really getting involved. Whenever Raynare and Rias were fighting, C.C. would just sit back and enjoy the show with a pepperoni pizza.

"Seriously! We're going to be late for school!" Rias yelled, tossing a pillow at Lelouch. Raynare nodded in agreement, pulling up her socks. C.C. was merely lying on the bed, already in her uniform, leafing through a Pizza Hut menu.

"It really is amazing that Pizza Hut delivers to the Underworld." She mused as Lelouch tried to cover his ears.

"Give me ten more minutes!" Lelouch yelled, using his emperor voice.

"Lelouch! Get up! As your knight, I'm not letting you be late to school!" Gino cried, appearing in the doorway of his room, along with Kallen, who stood back to watch. Lately, Lelouch had not had a chance to talk to her and she seemed to avoid talking to him at school. Sometimes it seemed like she was trying her best to avoid meeting him, although he couldn't imagine why.

The blond strode across the room and pulled the covers off of Lelouch. He really regretted teaching Gino how to use a magical circle. Now the blond could appear in his house any time.

After twenty minutes of struggling, Lelouch was sitting in his seat behind Rias.

"Lelouch, I'm letting you know that since the school's being cleaned right now, we're meeting at Issei's house." Rias whispered.

"Quiet in the back!" Jeremiah yelled. Since he had become Lelouch's rook, he decided to come teach at Kuoh Academy, after Lelouch's teacher mysteriously disappeared. Obviously, it was all a coincidence that she disappeared right as Jeremiah was looking for a job, but still, Lelouch couldn't help but feel suspicious.

"Just follow me after school." Rias whispered again, Rias whispered again, just as Jeremiah took the chalk he was currently writing with and fired it into the wall behind Rias and Lelouch in anger. Lelouch and Rias both felt wind whip past their heads as the chalk embedded itself in the wall behind them, stunning the entire class, including the normally unflappable C.C., who was actually engrossed in the lecture. In fact, this class seemed to be the only one that C.C. wasn't currently failing, although she still had a tendency to answer "pizza" on tests.

"I'm not warning you again!" He said, before returning to his lecture about the reign of Lelouch vi Britannia, despite the fact that they were supposed to be learning math. In fact, the only subject Jeremiah seemed to teach was history about either Lelouch or Marianne vi Britannia.

Not that Lelouch cared in the slightest.

* * *

"Why are all of you guys following me?" Issei groaned as the entire Occult Research Club, along with Jeremiah, who had volunteered to be the club advisor and chaperone, followed him home.

"We're having the meeting at your house, don't you remember?" Rias asked.

"Wait what?" Issei asked, suddenly very nervous.

"Ara ara, does Issei have something to hide?" Akeno giggled.

"What? I don't have any porn!" Issei growled.

"No one ever said you did, buddy." Gino said with a smile on his face.

"Issei, am I not good enough for you?" Asia asked, clearly upset.

"No way! You're great!" Issei reassured.

"Pervert." Koneko said, shutting him up.

Lelouch merely watched in amusement. Honestly, he was intrigued to know what kind of environment Issei had grown up in to become so perverted. To Lelouch's surprise, Issei's house looked surprisingly normal from the outside.

"My oh my! What handsome young men and what pretty girls! Issei, you must have spent a fortune to convince them to come with you!" Issei's mother said, eliciting a giggle from Akeno and a laugh from Gino.

"I'm not paying them! They're my friends!" Issei growled back, prodding Gino and Kiba to wave politely.

"Well, since I've never thought that Issei would have normal friends, I have to say, I'm not sure what to do!"

Even Lelouch had to smile at that.

"Mom! What do you mean by that?" Issei asked.

"I'm going to get you some tea and then we can all look at Issei's baby pictures!" Ignoring him, the woman shuffled away, leaving an amused Occult Research Club and an annoyed Issei behind.

"By the way, do you guys have any pizza?" C.C. asked curiously.

* * *

"Well, I have to say. You don't look perverted at all in this picture!" Gino said, amused by Issei's younger appearance.

"Say, weren't we supposed to have a meeting?" Issei asked, annoyed and embarrassed that the meeting had become about looking over his photos.

Kiba didn't respond, too engrossed by a particular picture. Issei leaned over to see what had the blond so quiet.

"Oh yeah, this picture is of me with one of my old friends and his father. He carried around this cool European sword." Issei explained.

"Do you remember anything else about this boy or his father?" Kiba asked with a serious expression.

"Uh, not really. I was really young back then." Issei replied, not understanding Kiba's interest.

"I see."

"What's wrong?" Issei asked, concerned for his friend.

"This is a Holy Sword."

* * *

"Come on Issei!" Rias yelled as she smacked a line drive straight at Issei.

"Ah!" Issei had no time to do anything but to duck as the baseball flew over his head and into the outfield, where Gino easily made a diving catch.

The Occult Research Club was busy practicing for the Ball Tournament, where all of the clubs in the school had to compete in baseball, soccer, basketball, and tennis.

"There's no way to win the Ball Tournament if you keep diving every time a line drive comes at you!" Rias yelled before driving a soft grounder at Lelouch, who was busy playing second base. The black haired Devil scooped up the ball and made a weak toss to Koneko at first.

"Great job, Lelouch!" Rias said, drawing an annoyed look from Issei.

"Of course he does a good job when you don't hit anything hard at him!" Issei complained.

Rias merely responded with another hard line drive. As Issei ducked, he could see the ball flying straight at Kiba in left field. Fully expecting Kiba to catch the ball, Issei was caught off guard when the baseball smashed right into Kiba's face.

"Kiba!" Issei yelled out as the blond merely rubbed his cheek.

"Kiba, is something wrong?" Rias asked, concerned about her knight.

"I'm sorry, I've just been thinking a lot." Kiba replied, offering a smile, despite the bruise that was already starting to form. Gino grimaced. There definitely going to be some rumors about domestic abuse the next day at school.

On the other hand, Lelouch merely looked at Kiba oddly. The blond had been a little distant lately, to say the least. Something was clearly bothering him.

Rias sighed and picked up a baseball book, prompting Jeremiah to step in her place, as he was the team's unofficial coach.

"All right! Master Lelouch, get ready!" Jeremiah yelled as he picked up a bat.

"Wait what?" Lelouch managed before Jeremiah ripped a line drive right into his chest.

* * *

Still sore from being hit by a baseball yesterday, Lelouch walked into the clubroom only to find not only the Occult Research Club, but also the Student Council.

"Sona?" He asked, surprised to see the president, who politely waved in response. She and Rias had apparently been in the middle of a conversation, but they had stopped once Lelouch appeared.

"Hey, don't talk to our president like that!" A male voice rang out. Lelouch found that the voice belonged to some boy who he vaguely remembered as the newest member of the student council.

"Who exactly are you?" Lelouch asked, not that he really cared.

"I'm Saji Genshirou. I'm a second year and the president's pawn! I'm worth four pieces!" He said proudly.

"Is that supposed to impress me or something?" Lelouch asked, although inwardly, he was slightly intrigued. Saji could be a useful tool to beat Sona if he ever had to fight her.

"Why you!" Saji was quickly stopped by Sona.

"Saji, he's a king and the patriarch of the Murmur Clan. Don't underestimate him. Not to mention, none of his servants are worth less than five pieces." As she said that, Gino, Kallen, Jeremiah, and Raynare all stepped protectively in front of him.

"Yeah, don't underestimate the Occult Research Club." Issei added.

"While I can't do anything about what he does, I won't take that from the biggest pervert in school!" Saji snapped.

"What did you just say?"

"You heard me!"

Lelouch groaned as the two began to glare daggers at each other, prompting to Sona to interrupt.

"Now then, I have some business to attend to." Sona continued, standing up, "Rias, I'm looking forward to the Ball Tournament."

Rais nodded in response, "As am I."

* * *

"Lelouch, get in the game!" Jeremiah yelled at the end of the bench, where Lelouch was sitting. The Occult Research Club was currently winning their basketball game against the Student Council in one of the final matches of the Ball Tournament. So far, neither team had lost an event, although they had tied in the tennis match.

"Wait, me?" Lelouch asked, not believing what he was hearing, although he really shouldn't have been surprised. It had been decided previously that Lelouch would be the eighth best choice to put in the game. After all, Akeno could not stay on the court without "accidentally" electrocuting someone, C.C. was too concerned with eating pizza to practice, Jeremiah was coaching, and Asia had no athletic skills to speak of.

"Yeah you. We're winning by ten points and there's ten seconds left. There's no way you could possibly lose the game for us by now." Jeremiah replied, dressed in a white polo shirt with black stripes and a pair of slacks, much like a professional coach.

There was a whistle and Issei came off of the court, leaving Lelouch with Gino, Rias, Kiba, and Koneko.

"All right Lelouch. I'm going to inbound the ball and you'll pass it right to Kiba, got it?" Gino asked, eliciting a nod from Lelouch. He stepped over to the sideline as the ref handed him the ball. As soon as it met his hands, Gino quickly inbounded it to Lelouch.

"Kiba!" Lelouch cried out as he quickly whipped the ball over to the blond haired knight.

Kiba didn't respond, getting hit in the face by Lelouch's pass.

"Gah!" Jeremiah screamed, throwing his clipboard on the ground as the Student Council raced to grab the ball. Luckily, the final horn blew, signaling the end of the game just before Jeremiah tossed a chair onto the court.

* * *

Kiba staggered back from the slap he had received from Rias.

"You know, we're lucky that we still won that game! What's wrong with you? Are you awake now?" Rias asked, clearly furious with her knight.

Even though the Occult Research Club had won the Ball tournament, Kiba had barely contributed. In every event, he was merely going through the motions with a distant look on his face.

"Rias, take a moment to calm down." Lelouch said, trying to soothe the crimson haired Devil. He turned to Kiba.

"I'm sure you have an explanation."

Kiba nodded slowly, "I've begun to remember the basic things."

"What basic things?"

"My reason for fighting." Kiba replied, "I'm living so I can destroy Excalibur and seek my revenge. Destroying that sword is my reason for living."

Wordlessly, he turned around and walked away, leaving behind a confused Occult Research Club.

* * *

"Man, I'm actually kind of worried about Kiba. I had no idea that all of that had happened to him." Issei told Asia as they walked home. After Kiba had ditched the rest of the group, Rias had gone ahead and explained the situation to Issei, revealing the truth about the Holy Sword Project.

Kiba had been artificially treated to adapt to the use of holy swords, but when he and the others who received the same treatment were not able to use Holy Swords, they were seen as failures and disposed of. Worst of all, it was the Church who had conducted the experiments and killed those who didn't have any use for them. Issei clenched his fists. Where did the Church get off denouncing the Devils when they themselves did evil things? He was starting to understand why Kiba wanted revenge so badly and why he hated priests so much.

To think that Kiba had been used as a guinea pig and then thrown aside when he had outlived his usefulness was incredible. Issei never had imagined that Kiba of all people could have gone through that. He always seemed so happy at school. Maybe everything he did at school was really all just an act.

Issei took his key and unlocked the door, pushing it open. As soon as he entered the house, he could feel danger radiating from the kitchen.

"Asia, stay behind." Issei said protectively, pushing her back. He slowly crept up to the doorway of the kitchen, where his mother was sitting at the table with two girls.

"Issei, welcome home! Is something wrong? You look a little pale." His mom asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. Who is this?" Issei asked, pointing to a girl with chestnut hair.

"Issei, don't you recognize me?" The girl asked.

"Here Issei, this should jog your memory." His mother handed him a photograph. Issei's eyes widened as he looked it over. It was the same photo that Kiba was so interested in.

* * *

Lelouch cautiously took a seat on the couch opposite of the two guests in the clubroom. He felt uneasy looking at the blue haired girl and while the chestnut haired one seemed friendlier, he knew better than to think that she would be friendly to Devils.

"Recently, there have a string of thefts from the Catholic Church Headquarter Vatican, Protestant Church, and Eastern Orthodox Church." Irina began. Issei was staring at her in amazement. First off, he had no idea that his childhood friend was a girl, not to mention that she was heavily involved with the church.

"What was stolen?" Lelouch asked, keeping a close eye on the blue haired girl, Xenovia.

"The Excaliburs held by each of the respective churches." Irina responded.

"Wait, but how can Excalibur be stolen from three different places?" Issei asked, confused.

"The actual Excalibur doesn't actually exist anymore. It was broken and turned into seven different swords." Xenovia replied, unsheathing her sword.

"I hold Excalibur Destruction." She said as Issei shrank back from the feeling of dread he was getting just from looking at the blade. Meanwhile, Kiba merely looked on with a scowl on his face at the sight of the Holy Sword.

"And I hold Excalibur Mimic." Irina said, holding up a rope that transformed into a large blade.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but you still haven't explained to us why you're in this town specifically." Lelouch said as the two sheathed their swords.

"The Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox Church each posses two Excaliburs. One from each was stolen and the thief fled here." Xenovia replied.

"So who exactly stole them?" Rias asked, worried about the events transpiring in her territory.

"We know that the Grigori stole them."

"The Fallen Angels? Well, I guess that makes sense. After all, high ranking Devils don't have any use for Holy Swords anyways."

Xenovia nodded, "And we know that the main culprit was one of the leaders of the Grigori, Kokabiel."

Lelouch looked at her worriedly. If they were dealing with the leadership of the Fallen Angels, they would be in for a tough fight. He actually wasn't planning to deal with the Fallen Angels until he had become one of the Four Satans.

"Our request, no, our order is that you must not interfere with the upcoming fight." Xenovia continued.

Anger flashed through Rias' eyes as she heard those words.

"Do you think that we're working with the Fallen Angels or something?" Rias snapped, angry at that thought.

"Our superiors think that it is possible. If you have, we will not hesitate to kill all of you, even if you are the younger sister of the Crimson Satan." Xenovia replied without any fear.

"Then you must realize that we have ties to your superiors. I would never tarnish the Gremory name by working with Fallen Angels. Never." Rias said with conviction.

Xenovia's face seemed to lighten up at that, "Well, that's good to hear, although we won't form an alliance with you. That would upset the balance of power, and we both know that we can't have that."

"So, is it just the two of you?" Lelouch asked, relieved that they wouldn't be dragged into any altercations with the leader of the Grigori.

Irina nodded, prompting a worried look from Rias.

"Aren't you two being a little reckless? You two are going to die if you go alone."

"To accomplish our goals, it's fine to die. Our only orders were to get the Excaliburs out of the hands of the Fallen Angels. If we die doing that, so be it." Xenovia replied, once again with a serious look on her face, "Come Irina. I think it's time for us to take our leave."

As they stood up, both pairs of eyes turned to Asia.

"Ah, is it the Witch, Asia Argento?" Xenovia asked, "To think, that you became a Devil. Can you still believe in God?"

Asia could do nothing more than to stammer with her eyes pointed to the floor.

"Ummmm."

"Just look at her Xenovia. There's no way that a Devil can believe in God." Irina whispered loudly enough for everyone to hear. Issei clenched his fists. Even if he had been friends with her when he was younger, he would not stand idly by while his friends were mistreated.

"No, I'm sensitive to the people who have betrayed the teachings but still feel guilt due to their memory of the teachings. She definitely is one of these people."

"Really? You still believe in God even though you're a Devil?" Irina asked, astonished.

"I can't just forget it. I've believed in it for my whole life." Asia responded, eyes still glued to the floor.

"Then we should just kill you right now so you don't betray the teachings anymore." Xenovia said, getting ready to pull her sword out.

Issei had enough. He angrily stood in front of Asia with his arms spread out protectively. Lelouch watched on in heavy interest. There were times when he actually really admired the bravery that Issei had sometimes. For him to stand up to two wielders of Excaliburs was very impressive. Maybe Issei was more useful than he let on.

"Don't come any closer to her! You called her a witch right?"

Xenovia nodded, "That's what she is."

"How can you say that to her? She gave all of you her kindness and tried to help all of you, but in the end, not one of you ever tried to become her friend, even when she needed one!"

"The job of the Holy Maiden is not to have friends. The most important thing is the charity they provide to others. If all the Witch wanted was to have friends, then maybe she was never fit to be Holy Maiden."

Issei gritted his teeth, and was only able to keep himself from attacking the girl because of the looks that Lelouch and Rias were giving him.

"None of you can know what it was like for her! All you have done is selfishly turn her into a Holy Maiden and then turn your back on her just because she tried to help everyone she came across. You guys are all fucking heartless! I swear, if you ever try to harm Asia or talk down to her again, I don't care if you have a Holy Sword or not. I will kill you or die trying!" Issei growled.

"Is this some kind of declaration of war? I must say, I expected your servants to be better educated than this." Xenovia told Rias with a mildly amused look on her face.

"Issei, she's right." Rias began, but she was cut off by Kiba, who stepped in with fire in his eyes.

"This is excellent timing then. I'll be your opponent."

"Oh? And who exactly are you?"

"I'm your predecessor, although I would be classified as a failure." Kiba said, grinning for the first time in days.

* * *

**As I mentioned before and as you've seen this week, my updates are going to slow down to about one a week until I get to Winter Break. Luckily, my workload's been pretty light this first week, so I thought that I would get this chapter out before the weekend. From what I gather, I think that Xenovia ends up becoming a part of Issei's harem in the light novels, so I want to let you guys decide. Should she be a part of Issei's harem or Lelouch's? As usual, feel free to PM or leave a review if you want to make any suggestions or leave your thoughts on this topic.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Since I haven't updated for a while, I won't have a huge author's note up here for you guys. Sorry that I took so long to update, but I went to a bunch of tryouts for volleyball since I really wanted to move up to a good club, so I really didn't have much time to write the last two weeks. The good news is that I managed to make Team Rockstar, which made not updating last weekend worth it for me and it really got me pumped up to get back to writing. So, without further ado, here's chapter 7!**

* * *

Chapter 7

"It might be interesting to see exactly how strong the servants of Rias Gremory are. Not to mention, I'm interested in my so called predecessor." Xenovia replied as her lips turned up into a smile. She had an assignment, but there was no way that a match would waste too much of her time.

"If we're going to have a match, we'd have to hold it somewhere where no one would see it." Rias said, running over possible locations in her head, also intrigued by the possibility of Kiba fighting two Holy Sword Wielders.

"Baseball field." Koneko said, leading to Rias nodding in agreement while Lelouch looked on incredulously. He didn't think that Rias would be so eager to let her servants get involved in such a dangerous fight. He hoped that Issei and Kiba would come out alive, otherwise, his plans would be handicapped.

"I'll put up a barrier. Then you two can fight without worrying about damaging the school." Akeno added, eager to see a fight.

* * *

"Even if it's not a serious fight, be cautious of the Holy Swords, they can still hurt you!" Rias informed Issei, who had been forced into the fight along with Kiba, Irina, and Xenovia. They were all assembled on the baseball field, with a large barrier surrounding the combatants, courtesy of Akeno.

"Right!" Issei replied in a shaky voice. After all, he had not expected to be dragged into this fight. Not to mention, Kiba was laughing maniacally next to him and he was really being unnerved by the knight.

"Wow, the Excaliburs are right here for me to destroy! I can't believe how lucky I am!" Kiba managed before keeling over with laughter, forcing his summoned Demonic Swords to follow suit.

"Hm, Sword Birth. So you must be the survivor of the Holy Sword Project." Xenovia observed, although her remark fell on deaf ears as Kiba was still giddy with the realization that he had a chance to destroy some of the Excaliburs.

"Issei, when I found out that you were a Devil, I was shocked." Irina sighed, drawing said boy's attention.

"Do we really have to fight?" Issei asked, although Irina ignored him.

"Destiny really is cruel. I went to Europe because I could use Holy Swords and I wanted to serve God. To think, that my dear childhood friend is now a Devil. If this is a trial by God, then so be it. Now then, Issei, I will deliver judgment upon you with this Excalibur!" Irina lamented, intimidating Issei, who was genuinely confused.

On one hand, Irina had tears streaming down her face and on the other hand, she was waving her sword around enthusiastically. By the way she was rambling on, he wasn't sure if she was crazy or drunk. He was inclined to believe either one of those things at this point.

"Look, I don't know what you're rambling on about, but Boosted Gear!" Issei yelled, making the red gauntlet appear over his arm.

"Oh, a Longinus." Xenovia observed, focusing her attention on Issei.

"If you're going to focus on Issei, then you'll get hurt!" Kiba yelled, charging forward with his Demonic Swords.

With a smirk, Xenovia turned with her Excalibur and easily blocked the strike. As the blades met, sparks began flying in all directions, flying back into Kiba and Xenovia's faces. However, it was clear that neither was going to back off.

"All right Issei, here I come!" Irina announced before she charged at him. Issei was barely able to dodge in time, once again filled with dread due to his proximity to the Exclaibur.

"Boost!" The Boosted Gear shouted, doubling Issei's power. He grinned as he searched for an opening. He was ready to unleash his most powerful technique, Dress Break. Through extensive practice on Asia, Akeno, and Koneko (Who had viciously beat him for it, but whatever), he had perfected his ultimate technique.

"Don't look at her with those lecherous eyes." Koneko ordered, noticing how Issei's perverted gaze had appeared.

"He has a technique to blow away the clothes of women, watch out." She advised Irina, who gave Issei a pitying look.

"What a sinful technique! Please God, forgive this pervert!" Irina prayed, leading to an annoyed look from Issei.

"Why are you helping her?"

"You are the worst. The enemy of all women." Koneko replied.

"I could have just given my body up to you, if you asked." Asia added.

Xenovia shook her head, "I see. It's only fitting that such a greedy Devil would have such sexual desires."

"I sincerely apologize for Issei's lechery." Kiba said apologetically.

"Hey! Wait a minute, why are you apologizing?" Issei yelled out, embarrassed and enraged at the same time.

However, his words went unheard by the two who resumed their duel. Tightly gripping two Demonic Swords, Kiba viciously slashed at Xenovia, trying to utilize his speed as a knight. The blue haired girl easily evaded his attack with minimal effort.

"My sword is made purely of destruction. I can destroy anything with it." Xenovia announced before destroying both of Kiba's swords with one swing. Distracted, Issei barely avoided a quick attack from Irina.

"Boost!" The Boosted Gear called out for the third time, and Issei realized that he had to end the battle quickly before he ran out of stamina. However, with Irina's constant assault, he had no choice but to try and evade her attacks. With another swing, Issei could feel Irina slightly graze him.

As soon as the blade made contact with his skin, Issei could feel all of his strength leave his body. Helplessly, he tried to summon another Boost, but it was clear that it would not help now.

"This is the damage that a Holy Sword can cause to a Devil. You're lucky that I only grazed you." Irina informed the injured Devil.

Lelouch felt a frown tug at the corners of his mouth.

"Akeno, we have to stop the fight soon. Issei looks hurt." He ordered, but she was clearly too transfixed by the sight of Issei vomiting blood on the floor to listen to him.

Watching Issei writhing on the ground in pain, Kiba glared at Xenovia with renewed fire in his eyes.

"Now we will see if your Holy Sword is as strong as my Demonic Sword!" Kiba yelled, creating a massive sword that was easily twice the size of Kiba himself. Even from outside the barrier, Lelouch could feel power radiating from the large sword. With a scream Kiba swung the sword full force at Xenovia.

"You made the wrong choice." Xenovia deadpanned. With a scream of her own, she swung her blade forward. The Excalibur cut through Kiba's Demonic Sword as if it was butter, sending the top half of the sword flying behind Kiba. Lelouch was taken aback. Even a sword as powerful as the one Kiba had created presented no challenge to an Excalibur.

"You should not have sacrificed your speed for strength. With such a large sword, you lost your best attribute, your speed. It's really a shame that you would be desperate enough to do that." Xenovia said regretfully before she smashed the pommel of her sword straight into Kiba's stomach.

The blond knight keeled over in pain, spitting up blood.

"Akeno! Take down the barrier!" Lelouch ordered in his emperor voice. This time, Akeno heard his order and quickly dissolved the barrier sealing the four combatants inside. Both Irina and Xenovia sheathed their swords, clearly the victors.

"Well then, I need to take my leave. I trust that you will remember our little talk." Xenovia said nonchalantly, "Oh, and one more thing. Try and train your servants a little more. The Vanishing Dragon has already appeared and there's no way that you could ever beat him in your current state." She directed her last statement at Issei before she began walking away.

"Wait up!" Irina cried, gathering her things and following suit.

* * *

Issei groaned in a mixture of disappointment and pain as Asia's Twilight Healing worked its magic.

"I'm sorry that I lost, Asia." Issei apologized as he inspected his now healed wounds.

"If you had another boost, you might have won." Koneko stated, before turning her head at some yelling.

"Kiba! I won't forgive you if you leave right now!" Rias yelled. Kiba was currently walking away from her in the direction where Xenovia and Irina had left.

"I only lived on because of my comrades. Because of that, I have to avenge them." Kiba responded, turning away.

"Kiba! Why?" She asked, saddened that her knight would abandon her.

Lelouch's lips curled into a frown.

"So, I take it that you're going to take advantage of this somehow?" C.C. asked.

Lelouch nodded slowly. Although this could tie into his plans, it wasn't easy watching his girlfriend being abandoned.

"So, do you want me to get Jeremiah or Gino?" She asked.

Lelouch shook his head, "No, tell them to stay behind to protect Rias. If Kokabiel attacks, we'll need to have enough people to protect her."

"I never thought that I would see the day when you actually cared about someone other than Nunally." C.C. chuckled.

Lelouch's shoulders seized up for a moment at the mention of his sister's name, but relaxed as he turned to walk towards Issei.

"Kiba's leaving?" Issei asked, surprised. He had always thought that Kiba was among Rias' most loyal servants. But now the knight was abandoning her without any hesitation, just for a chance to destroy some Excaliburs.

"It seems that way." Lelouch muttered. Likewise, he was a little surprised by Kiba's actions. For someone who usually was composed and relaxed, he was making rather rash decisions right now.

"What are we going to do?" Issei asked, wanting to cheer up his president.

Lelouch gave him a look, "I have a plan."

* * *

Lelouch smirked as he watched Saji waiting impatiently in front of the train station. Not only would he be able to gain the trust of Kiba and Issei, but he would gain a connection with Sona's pawn. He knew as well as anyone that to accumulate strength, one needed a strong base of power. If he could make connections with the strongest clans at Kuoh, he would definitely be on his way towards his ultimate goal of staging a coup against Asmodeus.

Presently, his peerage would not be enough. No, he needed to make connections with the Sitri Clan, and fill out the rest of his pieces before he could even think about attacking the Great Satan. A war was definitely going to break out as a result of his actions, and he was not going to be defeated by a lack of preparation.

"Ah! Let go of me!" He heard Issei yell. Annoyed, Lelouch turned around to berate the pawn, but decided against it once he realized that Issei was trying to run away from Koneko, who was grabbing onto his shirt. The short girl had the same emotionless face she always did, although her eyes narrowed a bit as they focused in on him.

"Ah, Koneko. What are you doing here?" Lelouch asked cordially. Although Koneko wasn't terribly important to his plans yet, he still wanted her loyalty, or at least her trust.

The girl didn't respond, merely staring at him in response. Koneko didn't fully trust Lelouch yet, unlike the other members of the Occult Research Club.

"Well, I guess that you can tag along. Come on Issei, let's not keep him waiting." Lelouch said, prompting Issei to follow him.

As the three approached, Saji noticed them out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, why did you guys call me?" He asked, annoyed that they had made him wait.

"Yes, why did you two want to meet him?" Koneko asked.

"We're going to ask Irina and Xenovia for permission to destroy the Excaliburs." Issei said, acting as Lelouch's mouthpiece.

Both Saji and Koneko's eyes widened at this revelation. Almost immediately, Saji turned to run away, but Koneko grabbed his shirt before he could leave, immobilizing the pawn.

"Let me go!" Saji screamed, trying to escape Koneko's iron grip.

"I'll help you." Koneko said. She didn't trust Lelouch, but she was still loyal to Rias and she knew how much Kiba's loyalty would mean to her.

"Don't get me involved with your problems!" Saji yelled.

"Saji, calm down." Lelouch ordered activating his Geass. Instantly, Saji stopped struggling, seemingly resigned to his fate. Lelouch then looked at Issei, "Come on, let's go."

Nodding, Issei left, followed by Saji and Koneko, who was still holding on to their shirts to prevent them from running off, although Saji was now completely relaxed from Lelouch's command.

The group managed to make their way into town without incident, thanks to a subdued Saji.

"Please give charity to us on behalf of the father in heaven!"

Issei was surprised by how much the two girls stood out. Currently, they were standing in the middle of the road and begging, drawing concerned glances from townspeople.

"I can see that subtlety is not their strength." Lelouch observed, not impressed at all by the two.

"This is all your fault. If you never bought that fake painting, we would still have money." Xenovia muttered, drawing an immediate response from Irina.

"What are you talking about? The man in the painting looks like a saint. Or at least, I think he does…"

"Then who is it?"

"I think it's Saint Peter?" Irina said, obviously unsure.

"There's no way that this is Saint Peter."

"Well, I think he might have looked like this."

"Why did I get stuck with you? Is this a trial from God?"

Xenovia hung her head in defeat.

"Don't hang your head." Irina consoled, leading to an angry response from Xenovia.

"Shut up! This is why you Protestants are heretics!"

"What did you say? Heretic!" Irina growled, angry at Xenovia's accusation.

"What did you say? Heretic!" Xenovia snapped in response, butting her head against Irina's. Just as the two began to argue, they were interrupted by the rumbling in their stomachs.

Lelouch sighed. The Church was honestly not going to get very far if these were the kind of agents that they sent out. Still, the Church's lack of foresight might just end up becoming a huge advantage later on.

"Say, we were just about to eat, why don't you join us?" Lelouch asked with a bright smile on his face, walking up to the two as if he had not just been observing them.

* * *

Lelouch watched the two girls eat wordlessly. Xenovia constantly shot him dirty looks, but he tried to ignore them. After all, could he really blame her? He did have a bit of a reputation now, mostly due to his victory over the supposedly invincible Riser Phenex.

Meanwhile, her partner was enthusiastically mowing through plate after plate. Lelouch was definitely not as concerned about this one. After all, she did have childhood ties to Issei and she was definitely a much more pleasant person.

"It's really embarrassing to be helped by a Devil." Xenovia sighed, finally putting her fork down.

"Wait a second, we're giving you free food and that's all you have to say?" Issei asked incredulously. Lelouch was not as concerned. After all, he did possess the entire Murmur Clan fortune and a meal, however expensive, would barely make a dent in his savings.

"Thank you for the meal. God, please give charity to these Devils!" Irina thanked, pulling out a cross. Leouch, Issei, and Koneko collectively grabbed their heads in pain at the sight of such a holy object.

"Sorry." Irina apologized, quickly putting her cross away. Issei and Lelouch rubbed their heads as the pain subsided and Koneko went back to eating her slice of pie.

"So, why did you help us?" Xenovia asked. Lelouch smiled. The girls certainly didn't beat around the bush.

"Well, I know that you two have come here for the Excaliburs, right?" Lelouch asked.

Xenovia nodded slowly, "Yes, we've already told you this."

"We want to help you to destroy the Excaliburs." Lelouch said tentatively. He wasn't sure if they would agree to help him, but it was worth a shot. If he was ever going to secure a base of power, he couldn't have weapons as powerful as the Excaliburs floating around when he couldn't use them. It was only natural that he wanted to destroy them.

"Okay, I guess we can let you destroy one of them." Xenovia replied. The negotiation had definitely gone a lot smoother than Lelouch had expected. He was fully prepared to the use his Geass to get them to bend to his will, but now, it seemed like he would not have to resort to that.

"Wait, are you sure? After all, they are still Devils." Irina voiced her concerns. Lelouch certainly did not expect to be the one who would need convincing.

"The truth is, I'm actually a little skeptical about our chances to defeat Kokabiel with only the two of us." Xenovia replied.

"I know that, but still…"

"We either have to destroy the Excaliburs or take them back. Alone, we only have a 30 percent chance for success."

"But we agreed that percentage was high enough to come on this mission."

"Still, it's almost like self sacrifice to go in alone."

Irina's face showed the conflict she was feeling inside, "Isn't that just a part of our job as followers of God?"

"Our job is to complete our mission and to live on to fight for God." Xenovia corrected.

"But still, help from a Devil?"

"That's why we're going to get the help of a Dragon, not a Devil. Our higher ups never said anything about Dragons."

"Ah, so you two intend to use Issei then." Lelouch interrupted.

Xenovia nodded, "The power within you can be increased to that of the Maou. If you do that, you will be able to easily destroy an Excalibur. Not to mention," She glanced at Lelouch, "You must possess the same level of strength as well."

He smiled a bit at the compliment, "Very well then, Issei and I will lend our power to you for your mission."

"To tell the truth, it's not the same if I get permission to destroy one from the wielders of Excaliburs." Kiba said. Issei had gone ahead and summoned the Knight to the same restaurant.

"Feel lucky that we're giving you this chance." Xenovia said coldly.

Kiba glared at her in response.

"So, you really hold a grudge against the church and Excaliburs, huh?" Irina cut in, breaking the two up.

"What do you think?" He spat coldly.

"But because of the Holy Sword Project, people like Xenovia and me can now wield the Excaliburs."

"So do you think the results were worth the deaths of everyone who was classified as a failure?"

Irina had no response, instead, she looked to Xenovia for help.

"The incident was… unfortunate. But the man responsible was charged with heresy and excommunicated. Since then, we know that he's joined up with the Fallen Angels."

"What is the name of that man?" Kiba asked, suddenly interested.

"Balba Galilei."

Kiba's eyes took on a new look at the revelation, one of determination.

"If I fight the Fallen Angels, then I'll be able to reach him."

With a much more amiable demeanor now, Kiba took a sip of coffee.

"So why exactly did you do this?" Kiba asked Issei and Lelouch.

"We are comrades." Issei quickly replied.

"It's for Rias, isn't it?" Kiba asked, directing the question more at Lelouch.

"You could say that." Lelouch replied. Kiba nodded, although he didn't look satisfied with the answer.

"Yuuto… I would get lonely if you disappeared." Koneko said with a sad expression, tugging at the taller boy's jacket. Even Lelouch had to admit, Koneko was incredibly cute and sad at the same time right now.

"I will help you… so please don't go." She continued, drawing a look from Issei, who was busy trying to decide if he was a loli-con or not. Kiba stared down at her sad face and smiled in response.

"Well, then, I guess I don't have a choice." Kiba said, appeasing the girl for now.

"All right! Let's go take down the Excaliburs!" Issei shouted triumphantly.

"Do I have to come along too?" The entire table turned to look at Saji, who had remained silent until now. In fact, it was clear that the group had forgotten that he was even here.

"I mean, I have no idea what's going on."

* * *

"That's such a sad story! That's it! I'll take any punishment from Prez. Come on, we'll all go and destroy that Excalibur!" Saji sobbed, moved by Kiba's story.

Lelouch sighed. He could definitely see why the boy was only a pawn.

"I guess now's as good a time as ever to tell you guys my intentions as well. My dream, is to make Prez pregnant and marry her!" Saji exclaimed.

"Listen Saji, my goal is similar. I want to grope Buchou's breasts, and suck them!" Issei replied, as if the two were now best friends.

"But Issei, listen to yourself. Do you know how hard that dream is?"

"Listen to me, nothing is impossible!"

Saji nodded in response, "Right! Nothing is impossible."

"All right then Saji, then let's do it together. With both of us, we will can make them pregnant and marry them! We can have sex with our masters!" Issei cried out, drawing tears from Saji's eyes.

Meanwhile, Lelouch was simmering both at their stupidity, and at the fact that Issei's greatest dream was to have sex with his fiancé.

"You really are the worst." Koneko said, once again with an emotionless expression.

"You do realize that you're talking about my fiancé, right?" Lelouch growled.

* * *

"This is impossible!" Saji groaned as the group continued to walk through town in priest clothes. They had hoped to draw out the Fallen Angels by posing as agents of the Church. So far, they had searched for weeks without any results.

"Wait a second. Do you guys sense a killing intent?" Koneko asked, alert and searching for enemies.

"Look up!" Saji cried out as a white haired man flew in front of the group with a large sword drawn.

Kiba barely had time to pull out his own sword before the man was assaulting him.

"Freed!" Issei cried out before summoning his Boosted Gear.

"What the fuck? I thought I killed you back in the Church." Lelouch growled, electricity crackling in his palm.

"I'll admit, it hurt me, but all you did was gave me a little brain damage!" Freed cackled, clearly even more insane than before, if that was possible.

"Strech my line!" Saji cried out as a small lizard face appeared on his hand and shot its tongue out as a black hand. The tongue stretched out as Freed angrily slashed at it, only for his blade to pass through with no effect. It latched onto the ex priest's leg and began wrapping itself around his feet.

"Now, Kiba! He can't move!" Saji cried out as Freed realized that he had been immobilized.

"Wait, Kiba! Don't just charge in!" Lelouch ordered, but Kiba paid him no heed, charging forward with two Demonic Swords.

"So, you possess Sword Birth eh? It may be a Sacred Gear, but it can't compete with my Excalibur!" Freed announced before he swung to meet Kiba's swords. With a clang, the Excalibur cut through both Demonic Swords.

"Issei, act as support." Lelouch ordered, before motioning to Koneko. The girl quickly picked Issei up and tossed him at the Knight.

"Transfer!" Isseri yelled out, sending his power into Kiba's body.

"Thank you for the help." Kiba said, a powerful aura rising from his body.

"Sword Birth!"

As soon as he summoned it, blades appeared from every direction on every surface imaginable. Cars, streetlamps, and walls all had swords popping out from all areas, completely covering the entire street in metal. Using his speed, Kiba began using the swords as platforms to leap off of, throwing swords all the way.

Freed for his part, remained surprisingly calm. With his Excalibur he easily knocked away every sword that was sent his way.

He had been trying his best not to get involved in the fight. After all, if Kiba wasn't the one who destroyed the Excalibur, he would not have been satisfied. But now, it was clear that Kiba, even when strengthened by Issei's Boosted Gear, was no match for an Excalibur. Frustrated by the ex priest, Lelouch fired off a stream of electricity, which ran along the metal of the swords, which acted as conductors. Freed brought his Excalibur and the electricity that was racing towards him was easily deflected off into the sky.

"Hah! My Excalibur is Excalibur Rapidly. There's no way that I'll lose to anyone in terms of velocity!" Freed boasted as he cleared away the swords in his immediate vicinity with one effortless swing. Seeing a clear path to Kiba, he quickly rushed at him.

Kiba put up his words to block the strike, but the Excalibur easily cut through the two blades. Kiba helplessly dropped the handles to the ground, and fell onto his back. Freed grinned and pulled his sword back for the finishing blow. Suddenly, his body was pulled back and he lost all of his balance.

Lelouch suddenly noticed that the tongue of Saji's lizard had been glowing faintly the entire time.

"This is my Sacred Gear, Absorption Line! It'll drain you power until you lose consciousness!" Saji grinned as Freed tried to get to his feet.

"Kiba! Now's your chance!" Lelouch cried out. Kiba nodded and created one more Demonic Sword.

"Sword Birth. The Sacred Gear that can create any sword, based on the user." A voice rang out before Kiba had a chance to deal the finishing blow. An old man dressed like a priest clothes was standing in the middle of the street, observing the battle.

"Balba Galilei." Kiba growled, his voice full of anger.

"That I am." The old man admitted. He quickly took a look at Freed, who was still trapped by Saji, "Freed, what are you doing?"

"This guy's lizard tongue is keeping me here!" Freed complained as he continued to struggle.

"I guess you can't use the Excalibur perfectly yet. Just focus your holy power to the blade."

Freed did as he was told and his sword give off a bright light. With a wicked grin, he sliced through Saji's Absorption Line, freeing himself.

"Well, nice try this time, but next time we meet, I'll definitely kill you!" Freed cackled as he made a move to escape.

"I'm going to let you escape!" Before anyone could tell what was going on, Xenovia was upon Freed.

"Issei!"

"Irina!"

The brown haired girl came running up to support her partner.

"Come on old man, we need to escape!" Freed said, pulling out a ball of light. He tossed it on the ground and instantly, a bright light covered the entire area, blinding the group. By the time the light had died down, the two were gone.

Xenovia gritted her teeth, angry that she had lost her target.

"Come on Irina, we can't let him get away." The brown haired girl nodded and the two took off in pursuit.

"I can't let you escape Balba!" Kiba screamed before following the two girls, leaving Koneko, Lelouch, Issei, and Saji behind.

"This really is troublesome." A familiar voice rang out.

"Lelouch, what is the meaning of this?" Another familiar voice followed.

Lelouch, Issei and Saji nervously turned around to see Rias and Sona standing behind them.

* * *

**I know that it seems like Lelouch really didn't have that much to do in this chapter, and neither did most of the main characters besides Issei, Kiba, and Saji, but don't worry, I'm giving pretty much going to give each of the Code Geass characters at least one chapter about them, so don't worry about it. On a side note, would you guys prefer it if I start going off on my own original material after this story arc? It's honestly more enjoyable to write original material than to follow the canonical story, but for now, I have to follow the light novels to set up the main characters and introduce basically all of the characters for now.**

**Also, expect longer intervals between updates. This update took especially long because I was busy last weekend going to try outs for volleyball instead of writing, but don't be surprised if I take up to two weeks to update. **


	8. Chapter 8

**So...I managed to write up a new chapter. Please enjoy the continuation of Beyond Zero.**

* * *

Chapter 8

"I can't believe you three! I sort of expected something like this from Issei, but you, Lelouch?" Rias exclaimed, shaking her head with a disappointed expression evident on her face.

"Saji, you went behind my back." Sona added, with a similar tone as Rias.

"I'm so sorry, Prez!" Saji cried out in apology, falling to his knees.

"So Yuuto went after Balba?" Rias asked, trying to think rationally instead of indulging her desire to yell at the three. For now, the important thing was to figure out what exactly happened to her knight. If he was off doing what she feared, there was the chance that he could cause some sort of inter-faction crisis and possibly exasperate the current war, which was to be avoided at all costs.

"It seems that way." Lelouch replied, aware of the threat that Kiba posed as well.

Rias sighed, "I guess we can't changed what happened. But you three do know what you just did could change the entire balance of the Underworld, right?"

Lelouch nodded, "I'm aware."

"Okay. I sent my familiar out to find Kiba. We'll figure out what to do once we find him." Rias said, before pulling the three into a large hug, squeezing each of them tightly.

"You guys make me worry too much."

* * *

Lelouch walked into the club room after class only to find Rias sleeping on the couch. The light filtering from the windows perfectly illuminated her face, which Lelouch found flawless at the moment. A stray crimson hair lay across her face, and Lelouch felt a strange urge to brush it aside, before ultimately deciding against it.

"She really cares too much about her servants."He sighed before taking a seat next to her sleeping form. The sound that he made as he sat down was enough to wake the crimson haired girl up. Her eyes fluttered open as she took in her surroundings. Noticing Lelouch, she lifted her head up and rested it in his lap.

Judging by the fact that school had just ended, Lelouch assumed that Rias had probably been in the clubroom for the entire day. Gently stroking her hair, to which she sighed appreciatively, Lelouch looked down at Rias, "Did you even go to class today?"

She shook her head in response, confirming Lelouch's suspicions.

"I couldn't get any sleep last night. You three really scared me. What if you guys had been hurt?" Rias began rambling, spouting out the words quickly, making it clear that she was indeed worried.

"But we weren't. You don't always have to worry that much." Lelouch reassured.

"'Lelouch, I love you. Do you know what would happen to me if I lost you?" Rias whispered. Lelouch looked down in shock.

"I…" Lelouch could not finish. There was no way that he could say that he loved her back.

"What's wrong?" Rias asked, concerned.

What could he say? That he didn't really love her? There was no way that he could tell her the truth. What was there to say? The only people he had ever loved were dead because of him? That the realization that had overtaken him when he realized that Shirley was dead was the hardest thing he had ever experienced in his life? He had already lost Euphie, but he wasn't by her side when she had died. With Shirley, he was with her every agonizing second as her life slowly trickled away.

To see her eyes slowly drained of their life was horrifying. And it was all because she had loved him. Why couldn't she have just stayed away? She knew that he was trouble, and yet, she still got involved with him. He was indirectly responsible for her death and he refused to forgive himself. Even if Rias thought that he didn't feel the same way about her, it was worth it.

He could never let anyone come that close to him ever again. It may have seemed like a stupid reason not to respond, but it would be impossible for him to forgive himself if Rias got hurt because of him.

"Lelouch. You're really scaring me." Rias said, sitting up.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it." Lelouch replied slowly. Suddenly, he felt sick to his stomach and an eerie feeling came over his body. He saw Rias falter a bit too and instantly knew that she had felt it as well.

"We need to get to Issei's house." They said in unison.

* * *

"Buchou? Why did you and Lelouch come to my house?" Issei asked, confused by their erratic behavior, although his parents had been thrilled to see the two arrive.

Before he could say anything else, the window of his bedroom shattered and a familiar man jumped in, crushing bits of shattered glass.

"Freed." Lelouch growled, standing up.

"Oh, am I interrupting something? Sorry, timing's not my strong suit." The crazed man replied.

"Is something wrong? I heard glass breaking!" Asia dashed into the room, only to pause in fear at a feeling of dread.

Likewise, Lelouch could feel a sense of dread fill his entire body. A young man with ten black wings appeared in the open window.

"Ah, this is my first time meeting you, daughter of the Gremory Clan. And same to you, heir of the Murmur Clan."

"Kokabiel, nice to meet you. I am Rias Gremory, and I'll tell you something right now. If you're here to discuss politics, don't bother." She growled.

Instead of getting angry, the man only grinned in response.

"Here, a gift." He said, tossing a bloodied body at the two.

With some difficulty, Lelouch managed to catch the body, which belonged to Irina. The girl was badly beaten, and her eyes were shut tightly in pain as she took shaky breaths.

"Asia! Get over here!" Lelouch yelled, prompting the girl to run over.

"Do your best to heal her." He ordered, setting the body on the ground and allowing Asia to go to work.

"What exactly do you want?" Rias demanded.

"I will rampage through this town, starting with Kuoh Academy. That should be enough to make Sirzechs appear, right?"

"If you do something like that, the Great War will start again!" Rias exclaimed.

Kokabiel nodded, "Exactly. I thought it would start once I stole the Excaliburs, but I was proven wrong."

"You're insane." Lelouch growled.

"That's exactly right! I was so bored after the war ended. All Azazel and Shamza wanted to do was to collect Sacred Gears." Kokabiel lamented, with an over exaggerated tone.

"So are you interested in Issei?" Lelouch asked.

"Me? No. But Azazel might be. But still, that's not why I've come here. No, I've come here to start a war!"

"Ha! Isn't my boss amazing?" Freed asked before he took out two Excaliburs, with two more hanging from his hips.

"I have Excalibur Rapidly, Nightmare, Transparent, and I even took Mimic from that girl!" Freed said with a grin, "I can wield all of them. I'm invincible now! Invincible!"

He took out another ball of light, throwing it to the ground.

"Wait!" Lelouch yelled, but, despite his best efforts, he could not see past the light. Cursing, he rushed to the window as the light finally died down, witnessing Kokabiel descending upon Kuoh Academy.

* * *

"Rias, we covered the school with a barrier. That should limit damage to only inside the barrier." Saji explained as the entire Occult Research CLub arrived at Kuoh Academy.

"Well at least it'll try and stop some damage. If Kokabiel is intent on fighting, then not only the school, but the whole region will be destroyed." Sona added.

Lelouch nodded as he took the information in. He knew that the leader of the Fallen Angels was strong, but the ability to destroy an entire region?

"We'll try and keep the barrier up so we can minimize damage."

Rias nodded, "Thank you for the help. We can take care of the rest."

In a whisper Sona added, "Rias, we should probably inform your brother. We are facing an enemy whose power surpasses all of ours, except for Lelouch. But you know that Lelouch hasn't even begun to truly learn how to use his power, so we still won't be a match for him."

"There's no need, I have already notified Sirzechs." Akeno cut in.

"Akeno!" Rias said with an angry expression.

Lelouch knew that Rias was too proud to usually call for help, but even he knew that they would be in for a difficult fight if Sirzechs didn't arrive.

"Rias, you know this problem is beyond your jurisdiction. The leader of the Fallen Angels is here. Any way you look at it, this is no longer your problem alone. We need your brother." Akeno stated with a serious expression on her face.

Rias looked like she was about to retort, but instead, she took a deep breath and nodded.

"Thank you for understanding. We have one hour before Sirzechs is going to show up."

"All right then. We have to go on the offensive and draw Kokabiel's attention. This battle is one of life and death, so I won't forgive you if you die!" Rias yelled at the Occult Research Club.

With a yell, she led her servants in through the front gate. Lelouch and his servants followed behind, but they moved with far more caution, as did Xenovia, who trailed behind the rest of the group.

In the middle of the school field, four swords floating in the air were releasing a large amount of light.

"What's going on here?" Gino asked, trying to see with difficulty.

Lelouch was barely able to make out the figure of an old man in the middle of the four swords.

"Is this Balba? What is he doing?" He wondered aloud.

"I'm going to make the four Excaliburs into one!" Balba exclaimed in an excited tone.

"Good, I'll leave it to you then." Kokabiel said before turning to the group assembled before him.

He created a large spear of light that he flung at the gym, completely destroying it in a bright explosion of light and smoke. In its place stood only rubble around the large pillar of light.

Lelouch gritted his teeth as he watched the wanton destruction inflicted by the Fallen Angel. It was clear that the man was trying to do some posturing and intimidation. Lelouch had encountered such tactics before in the political world, although this time, the danger was far more imminent.

"Now then, I think I'll have you all fight my pets." Kokabiel shouted, snapping his fingers. As he did so, the ground began rumbling uncontrollably, and three pairs of red eyes suddenly appeared in front of the group of Devils.

The body of a large dog, albeit with three heads, began to form, with the heads all moving independently, snapping their jaws and snarling with foam in their mouths. It was at least three times the size of any of the Devils assembled, and it was clear that it was extremely powerful from the aura it gave off.

"Cerberus!" Rias growled, readying herself for combat by gathering crimson energy in her hands.

Likewise, Lelouch brought his hands up from his sides, crackling with electricity while Raynare and Jeremiah moved in front of him to protect him.

Kallen and Gino nodded to each other before they each summoned their Sacred Gears and pounced at the creature, a blur of red and blond hair.

"Absolute Demise!" Kallen cried out, and instantly, a large sliver claw extended from her right hand, and red armor engulfed her arm up to her shoulder blade.

"Blade Breaker!" Gino called out in turn, and two golden Master Vibration Swords materialized in each of his hands, and as he gripped them, they immediately began oscillating furiously.

"I'll take him from the right!" Kallen announced, slashing at one head of the fearsome dog in front of them with her clawed arm.

In response, Cerberus' closest head snapped back, and it took a step backwards, just in time to avoid the attack, kicking up dust behind it as it did so. With its other head, it sensed that Gino was indeed on the offensive as well, and the dog instinctively stepped out of the way of his Master Vibration Swords, right into the open claw of Kallen.

"He's all yours." Gino said with a smirk, knowing that they had trapped it.

Nodding, Kallen fired a pulse of pink energy from her claw straight into its muzzle, searing one of Cerberus' three heads, causing it to howl in pain and to begin stumbling around, now completely blind in one head.

"All right, Raynare, engage him as well!" Lelouch ordered, and with a nod of understanding, Raynare sprouted Devil wings from her back and rushed forward with a loud cry, flapping her wings vigorously. As she began picking up speed, Lelouch looked to Issei, who had been watching the fight with fascination up to now.

"Issei, use your transfer on her now!" He barked, and immediately, Issei nodded in understanding, complying with his order.

"Boosted Gear!" He cried out, and a dragon like gauntlet appeared on his arm, with a flashing green gem.

"Transfer!" The gem cried out, and Issei pointed the Boosted Gear towards Raynare, who was going at a blinding speed, and infused her with a green energy, effectively turning her into a green blur of energy, as well as increasing her speed, so that she rammed into Cerberus, meeting it with a violent and destructive power that instantly knocked the creature off of its feet, leaving Raynare, Gino, and Kallen standing over a smoking corpse that was rapidly disappearing from sight.

"Now, we have to end this." Rias whispered to Lelouch, who nodded in agreement, raising up his right hand to mirror Rias' current stance.

In her hand, a huge ball of crimson energy formed within seconds, while Lelouch summoned his strength to create a ball of violet energy of comparable size. Both of them released their respective blasts of energy at the same time, and instantly, all members of both peerages could feel the raw power radiating from their two kings.

The two balls raced towards Kokabiel, who simply put up one arm and blocked both attacks at once.

"Well, the power of the Gremory Clan is not to be underestimated, I suppose." He cackled before lifting his hand to the sky and allowing the two balls of energy to dissipate into nothingness.

"What? He blocked an attack like that with just one hand?" Issei cried out in surprise, having expected the strike to completely annihilate Kokabiel.

Frankly, Lelouch was surprised as well, although to a lesser extent. He had known coming into the battle that Kokabiel far outclassed him or Rias in terms of power, but he had hoped that by attacking together, they would have at least approached the Fallen Angel's power. But it seemed as if he was entirely and utterly incorrect.

"It's complete!" Balba said with a wicked smile, and Lelouch's heart fell as he realized that the odds were less and less in their favor. In a normal situation like this, he would have ordered an all out retreat, but considering that Kokabiel was in the process of wiping out the entire city, there was little choice but to stand their ground.

The four Excaliburs, which were all stacked upon each other by Balba, began to glow brighter and brighter, until they were nothing but a mass of shining light that was bright enough to force Lelouch to cover his eyes. When the light died down, Lelouch lowered his arms to see that in their place lay one singular sword that gave off a powerful blue and white aura.

"Freed!" The old man snapped, causing the insane priest to run up to his side.

"What is it, boss?" He asked eagerly.

"Take this Excalibur and wield it." He ordered, to which Freed nodded vigorously.

"I understand!" He cried out happily, picking the sword off of the ground and waving it around with the joy of a kid set free in a candy store.

"Knight of Rias Gremory. Knight of Lelouch Murmur. Let us destroy the Excalibur together, if our agreement still stands." Xenovia said, speaking up for the first time since the battle had begun.

"Are you sure we can do that?" Kiba asked, surprised by her request.

"Like I said. If it must be done, I have orders to destroy the Excaliburs, if necessary." Xenovia replied.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Gino said with a determined look on his face, causing all three sword bearers to get into a fighting stance.

"Balba Galiliei. I am the survivor of the Holy Sword Project." Kiba told the old man, who had been snickering at their conversation up to now.

He smiled, "So, the survivor has come to meet me? I can't help but feel that this meeting was fated somehow. You see, when I was a young boy, I always loved hearing the stories of the Excaliburs, and I always dreamed of wielding one. When I found out that wasn't possible, I had no choice but to launch the experiment to create those who had the capability to. And now, it is complete, thanks to you."

"Complete? You killed us because we were failures!" Kiba retorted angrily, causing the old man to shake his head.

"No. You see, I discovered that all of you had a part of the potential to wield one, so I merely took out all of your potential and mixed together to create a specimen that had the ability to wield an Excalibur. Or more specifically, this." Balba said, holding up a bright orb.

"I see, so that's the so-called blessing bestowed upon us Holy Sword users." Xenovia said through gritted teeth.

"Yes. It has all of the capabilities in a crystallized form. And I'm about to give Freed his fourth." Balba grinned.

"How many have you killed to satisfy your sick desires?" Kiba screamed, his hands shaking uncontrollably due to the anger coursing through his veins.

"Well, when you put it like that, I guess I can let you have this." Balba said, tossing the orb to Kiba, who caught it with his right hand.

He fearfully ran a hand across its surface, tears threatening to burst out of his eyes.

"Everyone…" He whispered, and instantly, pale lights were flung out of the orb and scattered all over the battlefield, turning from amorphous blobs into humanoid shapes.

"You're all here!" Kiba cried out in surprise, the tears flowing freely from his face now as he was reliving his memories and seeing his fellow test subjects for the first time in years.

Lelouch peered curiously at one of the closer shapes and found, to his surprise, that it was speaking to Kiba. No, it was doing something more. It was…singing.

To his surprise, he saw Kiba singing along as well, crying as he did so.

"We couldn't do it alone. We didn't have all of the elements. But together…" A voice belonging to one of the figures rang out.

"Don't be afraid. Accept the holy sword." The voice whispered before all of the lights were suddenly sucked into the sky, and descended back down in a bright light that engulfed Kiba, who was now releasing a new aura, the likes of which Lelouch had never seen before from the knight.

"I see then. It must be the Balance Breaker." Lelouch whispered as Kiba's eyes snapped open with a fiery determination.

"Mater Lelouch, should we stop him? If he attains Balance Breaker before any of our pieces do, it could prove to be troublesome in the future." Jeremiah whispered to Lelouch, who shook his head.

"No. Let it happen. Rias and I will be linked through marriage in the future, and Kiba should only prove to be an ally to us, if that does indeed happen." Lelouch replied.

Jeremiah nodded, content to follow his orders. He didn't know exactly what Lelouch was planning at the moment, but he knew better than to doubt the man.

"Balba, as long as you're alive, more incidents like the Holy Sword Project will only continue." Kiba stated with anger just underlying in his tone.

"The path to progress is not always clean." Balba retorted.

"Yuuto, take them down. We believe in you." Lelouch said, doing his best to boost the knight's confidence.

"I will become a sword." Kiba stated, "A sword to protect Buchou, and a sword to protect my friends, and Lelouch. Balance Breaker, Sword of the Betrayer!"

With those words, a sword began assembling itself in his hands, giving off both a holy and demonic aura, and shining a bright white, along with a pitch black darkness that devoured the light surrounding it.

With impossible quickness, Kiba disappeared from sight and reappeared right in front of Freed, who barely put up his own blade up in time to deflect Kiba's strike in a shower of sparks. Not dissuaded, Kiba pushed all of his weight into his sword, as it was locked with Freed's. As he did, the demonic aura of the Sword of the Betrayer began to drain away the holy aura of the Excalibur, causing Freed to frown in frustration.

"How can this be happening?" He asked through gritted teeth, doing his best to match Kiba's strength.

"This Excalibur cannot cut the feelings of me and my comrades!" Kiba replied as he began to slowly overpower Freed.

"I guess I don't have a choice!" Freed cried out as his sword's tip split into two, and began moving of its own accord, stabbing at Kiba at all directions, although he had little to no problem at all parrying the attacks.

"How can this be? How are you still blocking all of my attacks?" Freed screamed, fury boiling over at this point, as his blades increased in the speed and intensity of their attacks, but were still unable to break through Kiba's stance.

"Just keep him there a moment longer." Xenovia told Kiba, who nodded and continued to defend against Freed.

Xenovia chanted a few words under her breath, and instantly, a dimensional gap appeared in front of her, tearing apart the air and revealing a swirling plethora of colors. She stuck her hand inside, and smiled, signaling that she had found what she was looking for.

"Durandal!" She cried out, pulling out a large blade with a powerful holy aura surrounding it.

"Wait, but I thought you were the wielder of Excalibur!" Balba said in frustration.

"I can wield both Excalibur and Durandal." Xenovia replied without any emotion to her voice, contrasting heavily with Balba's passionate shouting.

"That's not possible! We cannot create wielders of Durandal yet!" Babla said incredulously.

"I am a natural wielder." Xenovia said without fanfare, shocking all those present.

"Even I, the natural wielder, have trouble with containing the power of this sword. But I swear now that I will use it to the best of my abilities, so don't disappoint with your Excalibur!" Xenovia said, bringing up the blade in front of her face.

"You bitch! I'll kill you!" Freed cackled, turning his attention away from Kiba to direct all of his focus on Xenovia, who geared up to swing her sword.

She raised the blade above her head for a moment before she brought it down with incredible speed and strength. Freed put up Excalibur to block the attack, but to his surprise, the blade completely shattered as it came in contact with Durandal, and he was thrown back by the force with which Xenovia had swung her sword, crashing into the ground.

"This is impossible. A sword that has both a demonic and holy aura? The only way that would be possible is if…" Balba muttered, before his eyes suddenly widened in realization. However, before he could saw anything, a spear of light pierced his chest, sending him to the ground in a pool of blood.

"To think that one such as you could have actually connected the dots is really remarkable, but even so, you are no longer necessary." Kokabiel said coldly as he allowed another spear of light in his hands disappear, making it clear that he was the one who had killed Balba.

"Now then, I want to see more of your power, Welsh Dragon. Same of you, heiress of the Gremory Clan and heir of the Murmur Clan." Kokabiel stated, a huge grin forming on his face.

"All right, then give me a boost." Lelouch ordered Issei, who nodded and pointed his Boosted Gear towards Lelouch.

"Transfer!" The gauntlet cried out, and instantly, Lelouch could feel his body become imbibed with newfound power.

Lelouch pointed his right hand forward and exhaled deeply in an attempt to calm his mind and to utilize all of his available strength. Beside him, Rias did much of the same and quickly fired off a large crimson ball of magic that Kokabiel flung aside with his right arm, leaving him somewhat exposed. As she saw him do so, Rias breathed a sigh of relief. She just had to create an opening for Lelouch to use, and her plan had succeeded.

Sensing the weakness in his defenses, Lelouch released all of the energy he had left in his body in one large stream of electricity. The purple bolts flowed from his hand like an endless river, pouring out in torrents that surged forwards with incredible speed and strength, an attack truly worthy of a powerful Devil such as himself.

From beside him, Kallen's breath hitched as she felt the tension in the air suddenly increase as Lelouch released his attack, making the hairs on her body stand at attention in response to the huge amount of friction that his attack was causing. The raw power of the attack was almost unlike anything she had ever seen in her life, the destructive force of the FLEIJA being the only comparison she could think of in that moment.

However, to her surprise, Kokabiel did not even flinch, instead merely holding his left arm in front of him lazily, blocking the entire strike without much effort on his part.

"That was excellent indeed, but you still have a long way to go before you can utilize your strength to its fullest." Kokabiel said with a smug smile on his face.

Completely drained by the energy he had exerted, Lelouch fell to his knees, causing Raynare to kneel down beside him immediately to try and keep him on his feet while Jeremiah stood in front of his king protectively.

"I'll protect you, Your Highness." He stated, extending the dual blades hidden underneath his sleeves.

"Ah! A lone servant has chosen to challenge me! Please, I am curious to see the exact strength of the servants of the Murmur Clan!" Kokabiel cried out with an air of confidence.

Gritting his teeth in anger, Jeremiah gave a loud shout and dashed forward towards the Fallen Angel, blades crossed in front of his face.

Relishing the moment, Kokabiel created a sword of light and held it in front of him protectively.

Jeremiah swung one arm forward, but found that Kokabiel blocked him without much effort. In response, he stabbed forward with his other arm, aiming to pierce the Fallen Angel's heart, but was quickly rebuked by Kokabiel's foot, which forced even him, armed with the strength of the rook, to step backwards.

Not to be stopped, Jeremiah pressed on, slashing this way and that, just looking for any weakness. However, Kokabiel kept his stance compact and grounded, giving his opponent no quarter and easily deflecting all of the rook's strikes.

"Jeremiah, I won't let you fight alone!" Gino stated, stepping forward to aid.

He charged in, swords drawn and swung them both forward at once, the Master Vibration Swords attempting to chew through the light sword, but to no avail.

"Don't insult me with an attack that weak!" Kokabiel sneered, blowing Jeremiah and Gino into the ground with a heavy gust of wind.

Not being one to stand around while her friends were being attacked, Kallen joined the fray, slashing forward with her clawed arm, which Kokabiel met with his light sword. The Longinus Gear and sword struggled with each other as the two locked blades, sending sparks flying in every direction as both attempted to gain the upper hand.

Kokabiel laughed heartily as he began to slowly overpower Kallen, pushing back her claw, "Come on, is that the best you can do?"

"Kokabiel, this isn't over yet!" Kiba yelled as he charged in with his holy-demonic sword. At his side was Xenovia, who charged forward, armed with her Durandal.

Both of them swung their swords at once at Kokabiel, who merely flapped his wings and flew above the two, landing on the ground behind them and sending both to the ground with a roundhouse kick that connected with both sword wielders with a sickening crack.

Kiba was driven straight into the dirt by the force of the attack, and, coughing up blood, he attempted to stand, only to be sent back down by Kokabiel's boot.

"So, despite the loss of your superiors, you all continue to fight. How interesting." He remarked, not even breaking a sweat.

"Wait, what do you mean, the loss of our superiors?" Lelouch questioned as Raynare propped him up with the use of her shoulder.

"Ah, I almost forgot that only the elite of each of the Three Factions actually know. The truth is that in the Great War, not only Satan, but also God perished. The three factions have continued on, but in a reduced state. Why do you think that we rely on humans to bolster our numbers? Because there is no longer a viable way to increase the number of pure Angels, Fallen Angels, or Devils." Kokabiel stated with a serious expression.

With those words, a silence suddenly fell over all present as they took in the information. God was…dead? Xenovia shook her head in disbelief. There was no way that everything she had lived her life for was a lie, there was just no way!

"That's a lie! It's a lie!" She screamed, unwilling to accept that her life had been devoted to serving a dead entity.

Kokabiel grinned madly, enjoying the sight of the girl breaking down in front of him. Eager to see more, he continued, "Everyone decided afterwards that our numbers were all too diminished to continue fighting, and so, another great war won't happen, unless someone prods it. And this time, the Fallen Angels will win. We could have won back then, and now, we will finish what we started!"

"God doesn't exist. He doesn't exist." Asia said, falling to her knees. Her eyes were hollow and blank, unable to register anything but the truth that was staring her right in the face.

"No, Asia!" Issei cried out, kneeling down besides her in an effort to comfort the girl, but to no avail.

"So I'll be the one to prod it. I will start the Great War again, and lead the Fallen Angels to victory!" Kokabiel said, causing Lelouch to shake his head in disapproval.

"I can't let that happen. I made a promise once to create a peaceful world, and I never break my promises!" He said through gritted teeth, pushing off of Raynare and standing on his own strength, ready to continue fighting, despite his exhaustion.

"Intersting." A voice suddenly called out from the sky.

Lelouch turned his head upwards to see a white blur fall from the sky and stop inches from crashing to the ground. As the white figure approached, he could feel a huge amount of power radiating from the figure, which he could now see was clad in white armor and had eight wings of light sprouting from its back.

"The Vanishing Dragon." Rias said aloud next to Lelouch, who had quickly deduced the identity of the figure already, despite the fact that he was clad form head to toe in armor that covered his face.

"And to think that he has achieved Balance Breaker already." Lelouch said, a bit of awe in his voice as he waited to see what the Longinus Wielder was going to do.

"So you've come to engage the Welsh Dragon. I swear though, if you interfere with me…" Kokabiel started, but before he finished, one of his wings was completely torn off of his body, and a small amount of blood went up in the air at the same time.

"My wing!" Kokabiel cried out as the Vanishing Dragon laughed.

"It is a sign that you have fallen. You don't really need such a thing anymore." He said, stifling a chuckle.

"Are you challenging me right now?" Kokabiel asked, anger rising in his voice. As he did so, he created a large assortment of spears of light behind him, ready to fire at his new opponent.

"Call me by my name. I am Albion." The Vanishing Dragon stated before blue jewels all over his body began glowing, giving off a pale glow.

"Divide!" They all shouted at once, and immediately, Kokabiel's spears dulled in their intensity and half of them disappeared altogether.

"You must know the abilities of my Divine Dividing, correct? I can divide your power in half every ten seconds, until you are weaker than a normal human." Albion stated, a grin forming underneath his armor.

"Divide!" The jewels called out again, and this time, all of his spears of light vanished, and Kokabiel looked physically weaker.

"I'll kill you!" The Fallen Angel screamed in fury, flapping his wings and flying straight at Albion, who merely moved to the side, dodging the weak attack in a manner that made it clear that he was toying with Kokabiel now.

"Divide!"

At this, Kokabiel's pace slowed even more, already a shell of his former self. He took a swing at the armor clad figure draining his power, but it looked far weaker and slower in comparison to his early attacks. Compared to his initial power, he was not even at half of the strength he had once possessed mere moments ago.

"This is a disappointment." Albion lamented before he responded to Kokabiel's attack with a lightning fast punch that drove straight into the Fallen Angel's stomach, forcing him to keel over in pain and to vomit up blood before he pulled it out, allowing Kokabiel to collapse to the ground.

"Impossible…" He managed, eliciting a laugh from Albion.

"Really? That's all you have to say? Then, let's hurry this along. I was ordered by Azazel to take you back with me. You were out of control and acted out of your authority."

"Azazel. I should have known." Kokabiel said through gritted teeth, and Albion responded with a kick to his face, knocking out the Fallen Angel.

With a sigh of annoyance, Albion took Kokabiel and hoisted him upon his shoulder and walked up to Freed's figure, grabbing the exorcist by the collar.

"I suppose I'll take my leave now. There are some things we must now discuss as a result of Kokabiel's actions." Albion stated, before turning his head towards Lelouch, "We will meet again, so please, don't be as weak as this pathetic man here. The same goes for you as well, Ddraig." He said, shaking Kokabiel's body.

He turned his head upwards towards the sky and morphed into a white beam of light that shot straight up into the sky before disappearing completely, leaving Lelouch standing with an expression of shock.

"Master Lelouch, are you all right?" Jeremiah asked as Lelouch felt exhaustion attempt to drag him to the ground, stopped only by Jeremiah's shoulder.

"Yes, but I fear that some great changes are about to occur as a result of our actions here today." He replied seriously, staring at the space where Albion, the Vanishing Dragon had once stood.

"Yuuto. It's good that you returned, and I'm proud of you for achieving Balance Breaker." Rias told Kiba, who looked to the ground, an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry, to all of you, for my actions. I betrayed everyone to pursue my own selfish goals." He apologized, but Rias smiled in response.

"What matters now is that you're back." She replied.

"Thank you. I promise to carry out my duty as a knight of the Gremory Clan and protect all of my comrades." Kiba said with resolve in his voice before turning to Lelouch, "Also, thank you Lelouch. I have you to thank for helping to bring me to my senses. I also pledge to aid you in whatever you require, as the future spouse of my King."

"Thank you, Kiba. I promise to protect you as well, to the best of my abilities." Lelouch stated in response.

Although he was utterly drained from the day's events, he was glad to know that he had at least made some progress in that he had gained the loyalty of Kiba as well, which was all the more enticing now that he had reached Balance Breaker.

All in all, it was a productive day, he supposed.

* * *

**Sorry for the insanely long time in between updates, and for the fact that the size of this update wasn't proportional to the time I actually spent working on it. I had really bad writer's block for the entirety of this chapter, and I struggled to just get this much out, as I find that this volume in particular was one of the least exciting ones, as it left really little opportunity to utilize Lelouch in an interesting way. Starting from next chapter, it should be better, in terms of my update speed, and Lelouch's overall involvement in the plot, as he's been a supporting character in these last two chapters. **

**However, over the last few months, if you guys don't know, I have also uploaded another Highschool DxD and Code Geass crossover, Of Queens and Emperors, which is taking an original path with Lelouch. Because I have been using that story as a sort of dump for my more original storylines concerning the DxD universe, I have decided that Beyond Zero will be closer to canon than my other story, so if you want a more different storyline, I would recommend checking it out. **

**Since my last update was last year, I feel like I need to ask again, in case some opinions have changed with the release of the newer novels. Are there any characters that you guys would like to see involved with Lelouch later on? I'll return to some more romantic development next chapter, and I would like to know who exactly you guys want him to be involved with. As usual, feel free to PM or leave a review if you want to make any suggestions or leave your thoughts on this topic. **

**Again, sorry for the long time in between updates. Hopefully the next one won't take me half a year. It should require me to work for a few weeks, if that, so please, if you've continued to read this story, I hope you will stick with me.**


	9. Chapter 9

First off, thank you to everyone who has read this story so far. I really do appreciate everything you guys have done for me in terms of giving me feedback and in general, improving my writing. It really means a lot to me, and I think that it really helped me mature as a writer.

Second of all, I would like to apologize to anyone who waited for my last update. I know how hard it is to wait for updates when they take forever, I really do. Before I was a writer, I was a reader, and quite a few stories that I really enjoyed had the same problem, so I understand your pain and desire for new content.

However, I really am disappointed with the product I have put out, and I am resolved to right some wrongs. This story had so much potential, and yet, it has all really fallen apart. So, because of that, I have decided that I am going to revise all of my chapters, and make changes that I think will really improve the story, and will allow me to continue writing this story in a way that is more interesting and rewarding.

I can understand if any of you want to stop reading my story because of this, and I wish the best to you. I would recommend that you read my new story, Orange in the meantime, because that is a story that I have really put my best foot forward in and will be updated frequently with new content.

Also, to the anonymous reviewer named Reader, I would really appreciate it if you happened to make an account so I could converse with you and send you some of my revised chapters to look over, as I really do want to improve, and I think that the conjunction of your and CrazySasori's opinions on my writing will really lead to a better product.

Again, sorry for the update without new content, but I want to put out the best product I can, and so, I will revise all of my chapters before continuing on.

Thanks to all who have read this story so far!


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